Cantus Ensemble proudly invites you to the sixth and final concert of its 2024/2025 season concert cycle, aptly titled “And to End With…”, which will take place on Monday, May 26, 2025, at 8 PM in the Small Hall of the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall.

 

With this concert, we close a season rich in challenges, dialogue with our audience, and collaborations with outstanding artists. Once again, Cantus Ensemble will host exceptional performers: saxophonists Nikola Fabijanić and Danylo Dovbysh, under the baton of conductor Ivan Josip Skender.

 

The program features four works that offer an exciting cross-section of contemporary musical poetics. A particular highlight is the world premiere of the Concerto for Saxophone and Chamber Ensemble by Ivan Josip Skender, a composer and conductor who has been successfully shaping the Croatian contemporary music scene for years, earning numerous awards along the way.

 

French composer and saxophonist Jean-Denis Michat, a professor at the Conservatoire in Lyon and one of Europe’s leading saxophone educators, will present his composition Shams, which has achieved remarkable international success. It was a finalist in several prestigious saxophone competitions – including Adolphe Sax in Belgium (2014), Andorra Saxfest (2016), International Classic Winds in Germany (2018), and Saxgo in Slovenia (2018). The piece was also performed as part of a master’s recital at the Paris Conservatory (CNSM) in 2015 and at the opening ceremony of the Asia-Pacific Music Academy in Thailand (2019).

 

Also part of the evening’s musical mosaic is the masterpiece Dérive 1 by Pierre Boulez, a composition structured around six chords forming a circular shape and inspired by Boulez’s earlier works. This is an exceptionally delicate and complex score in which the ensemble explores tonal nuances and microstructures. It was premiered by the London Sinfonietta under the direction of Oliver Knussen in London in 1985.

 

The final piece is Arioso by Dubravko Pajalić, a Croatian composer and musicologist who has been active in Canada for many years but maintains strong professional and artistic ties with the Croatian scene, especially with the Cantus Ensemble. The piece was commissioned in 2010 by the Nu:BC Ensemble (Vancouver, BC) and premiered that same year at the Sonic Boom Festival. It evokes the musical expressions of Pierre Boulez and Cecil Taylor.

 

This final concert of the Cantus Ensemble season also marks a collaboration with young musicians: Ukrainian saxophonist Danylo Dovbysh, winner of the 4th International Josip Nochta Saxophone Competition, will perform as a guest soloist — part of the prize he received at the competition.

 

Another guest soloist at this Cantus Ensemble concert is also a saxophonist — the acclaimed and multi-award-winning Croatian musician Nikola Fabijanić, a member of the renowned Papandopulo Quartet and recipient of Porin, Orlando, Lisinski, and many other national and international awards.

 

We warmly invite you to join us for this musical gathering as we bid farewell to another valuable and successful concert season!

 

Tickets are available at the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall box office and via the website ulaznice.hr.