The Cantus Ensemble continues its 2025/26 concert cycle with a programme dedicated to major anniversaries, presenting masterpieces of contemporary music performed by outstanding soloists and the ensemble itself.

 

On Monday, 24 November 2025, at 8 PM in the Small Hall of the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall, the concert titled Solo – Tutti: Tant d’anniversaires! unfolds a spectrum of contemporary musical thought.

 

The evening opens with Luciano Berio’s Sequenza IX, performed by clarinettist Danijel Martinović, a member of the ensemble since its earliest days. Through Berio’s demanding musical rhetoric, Martinović will showcase the unwavering technical command and expressive control that define this emblematic work.

 

A powerful quartet of percussionists — Marko Mihajlović, Hrvoje Sekovanić, Nicolas Sinković, and Renato Palatinuš — takes on Giacinto Scelsi’s I riti, shaping its hypnotic, ritualistic layers of sound that epitomise Scelsi’s singular musical language.

 

Vocal subtlety comes to the fore in Maurice Ravel’s Trois poèmes de Mallarmé, interpreted by soprano Marie Lucia Kossjanenko, who will offer a finely balanced interweaving of words, colour, and crystalline musical transparency.

 

The evening continues with Pierre Boulez’s Messagesquisse, one of the iconic works for cello. It will be performed by cellist Jasen Chelfi, also an ensemble member since its early concerts, surrounded by six additional cellos. Both virtuosic and conceptually exacting, this performance promises to be among the concert’s most intense moments.

 

A special highlight will be the performance of Pascal Dusapin’s Quad featuring legendary violinist Irvine Arditti as guest soloist. Arditti, founder of the renowned Arditti Quartet, is one of the most influential figures in contemporary music. His career has been devoted to discovering and shaping repertoire that pushes the boundaries of violin technique. Having collaborated with leading composers of our time, Arditti’s commitment to new music and exceptional virtuosity will make this performance one of the peaks of the season.

 

The programme concludes with Mauro Lanza’s The Skin of the Onion, in which the Cantus Ensemble, conducted by Berislav Šipuš, peels away layers of sound like the layers of an onion — from fragile inner textures to rhythmically vibrant outer surfaces.

 

“Connecting the past with the present is not always an easy task, but someone must take it on. In its programmes and concerts, the Cantus Ensemble always seeks to explore the relationship between what once was — even long ago — and what is now, or was just recently… The programme of this concert will guide listeners through a small museum of sound and music,” noted Šipuš.

 

This concert offers a blend of soloistic brilliance, ensemble unity, and bold programming — a celebration of anniversaries, composers, and the richness of contemporary musical expression.

Solo – Tutti: Tant d’anniversaires! is a musical treat not to be missed.

 

Tickets are available at the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall box office and online at lisinski.hr.