Sunday, September 30, 8 p.m.

St. Nichola’s Church

 

 

Zagreb Soloists

Sreten Krstić, Krunoslav Marić, Davor Philips, Saki Kodama, violins

Dani Bošnjak, flute

Sreten Krstić, violin & artistic leadership

 

 

Programme:

Antonio Vivaldi
Concerto for strings in G minor, RV 155
Adagio
Allegro
Largo
Allegro

Concerto for 4 violins & strings in B minor, RV 580
Allegro
Largo – Larghetto
Adagio

Concerto for strings in D minor, RV 128
Allegro non molto
Largo
Allegro

 Concerto for 2 violins & strings in A minor, RV 522
Allegro
Larghetto e spiritoso
Allegro

Concerto for flute & strings in D major, Il Gardellino, RV 428
Allegro
Cantabile
Allegro

Concertos for violin & strings Four Seasons
Spring, RV 269
Allegro
Largo
Allegro

Summer, RV 315
Allegro non molto
Adagio
Presto

 Autumn, RV 293
Allegro
Adagio molto
Allegro

 Winter, RV 297
Allegro non molto
Largo
Allegro

 

About the performer:

Ensemble Zagreb Soloists is founded in 1953 as a Radio Zagreb ensemble under the renowned cellist, Antonio Janigro, artistic leadership. During more than six decades – under the leadership of equally famous concertmasters, such as Dragutin Hrdoljak, Tonko Ninić, Anđelko Krpan, and Borivoj Martinčić-Jerčić – Zagreb Soloists reflect the quality of music at an enviable level and regularly present it on prestigious world concert stages. Since 2012, the ensemble performs under the leadership of Sreten Krstic, who is also the leader of the Munich Philharmonic.

Since their inception, Zagreb Soloists gave over 4000 concerts on all continents and in many prestigious venues such as the Musikverein (Vienna), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Royal Festival Hall (London), Berlin Philharmonic Hall, Tchaikovsky Hall (Moscow), Santa Cecilia (Rome), Carnegie Hall (New York), Opera House (Sydney), Victoria Hall (Geneva), Teatro Real (Madrid), Teatro Colon (Buenos Aires), etc. They have regularly performed at the major music festivals such as those in Salzburg, Prague, Edinburgh, Berlin, Bergen, Barcelona, Istanbul, Prades Ossiach, Dubrovnik and elsewhere, playing with numerous distinguished soloists, for example – Henryk Szeryng, Alfred Brendel, Christian Ferras, Pierre Fournier, Leonard Rose, James Galway, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Aldo Ciccolini, Katia Ricciarelli, Lily Laskin, Zuzana Růžičková, Mario Brunello, Isabelle Moretti, Guy Touvron, Ray Chen and many others.

Zagreb Soloists’ performing repertoire entails baroque, classicist, romantic and contemporary music, with particular attention given to Croatian composers – both of those who represent the musical heritage and those of the younger generation. They recorded more than seventy albums for companies like Vanguard House, EMI, ASV, Eurodisc, Melodia, HISP-vox, Pickwick, and Croatia Records. One of the most notable recent recordings is the album with works by Ernesto Cordero, featuring prominent soloists such as the violinist Guillermo Figueroa and the guitarist Pepe Romero (Naxos 2010) that subsequently nominated for the Latin Grammy Award. In June 2014, the ensemble has also released a compact disc with works by Boris Papandopulo, performing with pianist Oliver Triendl – the project that thrilled both, local and international music critics.

Among the awards and accolades received by Zagreb Soloists are: the first prize at Mar del Plata (for the CD Concertos of the 18th Century), Pablo Casals Medal, Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Medal (for a contemporary music performance), Vladimir Nazor Award, Milka Trnina Award, Josip Štolcer Slavenski Award for the best performance of a work by a Croatian composer, Varaždin Baroque Evenings awards Ivan Lukačić, Villa Manin Award, UNESCO Award, The City of Zagreb Award, Silver CD label of Croatia Records, Order of Merit, The City of Zagreb Plaque, several Croatian Music Porin (including the he Lifetime Achievement in 1994), Croatian Musical Youth Silver Medal and many others. In 2010, the ensemble won Orlando Grand Prix Award for the outstanding artistic contribution to the entire Dubrovnik Summer Festival.

 

Sreten Krstić is born in 1953 in Belgrade. He began to play the violin at the age of seven. Since 1980, Krstić has been the concertmaster of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, with the great Sergiu Chelibidache as the orchestra’s chief-conductor. He was a concertmaster of the World Youth Orchestra and performed with soloists such as H. Szering and P. Fournier, and conductors J. Martinon and B. Klee. As a soloist, Krstić performed with famous conductors such as Sergiu Celibidache, James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Hiroshi Wakasugi, Horst Stein, Vaclav Neumann and Dmitrij Kitajenko and his career takes him in almost all European countries, Japan, United States and Russia. Krstić has made recordings for all the radio and TV-stations in ex-Yugoslavia, Bavarian Radio (BR), West-German Radio (WDR), BBC (Manchester) and Greek Radio (Thessalonica). Also, for companies such as Thorofon and Arte Nova Classics, amongst others, he has recorded a number of CDs, some as a soloist and others in chamber music. He has founded the strings trio Gasteig-Trio München in 1985, the strings sextet Philharmonische Streichsextett in 1996 and in 1999, the chamber orchestra, Philharmonische Solisten, whose artistic leader he still is. The same year, he became a member of the Gelius Piano Trio. He plays on the violin made by Nicola Gagliano in 1760.

 

One of the most sought-after Croatian flutist, Dani Bošnjak, discovered years his medium of expression at the age of seven. He started playing flute in 1972, and exactly 22 years later, he circled his formal studies at Music Academy of Zagreb with the master’s degree. However, his unofficial education continued. His studies took him further – to the exploration of early instruments and other types of the flute which made him a traverso and piccolo instrumentalist. His interest in the early music resulted in his engagement with Croatian Baroque Ensemble, specialized in historically knowledgeable performances. Bošnjak is a permanent associate of several renowned ensembles such as Varaždin and Croatian Chamber Orchestra, Zagreb Opera section, Zagreb Soloists and Zagreb Wind Ensemble, with whom he makes the core of the Cantus Ensemble, an institution promoting Croatian contemporary music. The versatility of Dani Bošnjak can be seen in his focus on both early and contemporary music, which led him to further explore the area of jazz and Latino music.

 

Krunoslav Marić received his primary and secondary education in Rijeka, and graduated from Music Academy of Zagreb in 2007, in the class of Professor Maja Dešpalj Begović. After graduation, he further studied under Professor Ilya Grubert at Fondazione musicale Santa Cecilia in Portogruaro, Italy. As a soloist, he performed with the Opera Orchestra of Croatian National Theatre “Ivan noble Zajc” in Rijeka and with Music Academy Symphony Orchestra. He received several awards on state competitions. During his studies at Zagreb, he actively participated in chamber ensembles, recording a compact disc with Academy string quartet with works by A. Webern and J. Š. Slavenski, published by Croatian Music Institute. He held numerous successful performances in Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, Austria, and Hungary. He also recorded for HRT and RAI. He cooperates with composers of movie and scene music and his recordings can be heard in documentaries, feature films, and contemporary ballet shows. He was a member of string quartet Porin. He attended many seminars held by prominent pedagogues in Croatia and abroad. Since 2018, he is guest concertmaster of the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra.