Commemorating the great 20 years of Cantus’ creative and exciting journey, we will have the opportunity to enjoy 20 pieces by Croatian composers in 20 outstanding solo performances by members of the Cantus Ensemble. First in line is violinist Martin Draušnik, who will perform a piece by Berislav Šipuš, ensemble's founder and conductor.
The gala anniversary concert will be led by the ensemble’s director Ivan Josip Skender, and the soloists will be its long-time members – percussionist Marko Mihajlović and clarinetist Danijel Martinović. In addition to compositions by Dubravko Detoni, Antun Tomislav Šaban, Martin Matalon and Fausto Romitteli, the ensemble will also perform for the first time a composition by the young author Helena Skljarov on this concert.
In May 2020, the Cantus Ensemble in partnership with the Arnold Schönberg Center will hold a concert as part of the “Croatian Musicians in Vienna” concert series that is organized by the Music Information Center for the 16th year in a row.
The program will include pieces by Arnold Schönberg and Anton Webern, as well as Croatian composers Stanko Horvat, Krešimir Šipuš and Sanda Majurec. The Ensemble will be accompanied by the soloists, mezzo-soprano Martina Gojčeta Silić and its permanent member, pianist Srebrenka Poljak.
Flutists Dani Bošnjak and Ana Batinica will present contemporary Italian compositions at the Minestrone all'Italiana Concert to be held in Lauba in Zagreb on Monday, 16 December.
The two musicians have been collaborating for many years, as Dani is Ana’s teacher and mentor, and gave us a short interview in which we talked about their current collaboration and the preparations for the December 16 concert.
Eight years ago, the Samobor Music Autumn Festival, along with the Ferdo Livadić International Competition of Young Musicians, started the New Note International Composers Competition.
The 2019 competition was called with the Cantus Ensemble in mind as they will be the ones to first perform the winning composition.
The musical segment of the program of the Biennale di Venezia, one of the most important and most prestigious modern festivals, will be held from 27 September to 6 October 2019.
Cantus Ensemble together with the Icarus Ensemble from Italy will perform Matteo Franceschini’s work as part of the award ceremony on which Franceschini will receive the Silver Lion for music in 2019.
The chamber opera in eight images Searching for the Blue Bird by Olja Jelaska, to the libretto by Sanja Ivić, was produced and commissioned by the national festival 44th Osor Musical Evenings 2019 and was also first performed at this festival. The Cantus Ensemble, as the heart of the entire production, was joined by a series of national opera singers of various generations, such as Lidija Horvat-Dunjko, Tanja Ruždjak, Matija Meić, Irma Dragičević, Martina Menegoni, Toni Nežić and Siniša Galović.
The performance was led by Maestro Berislav Šipuš. The members of the Osor-Lošinj Čikat klapa ensemble also played a role in the premiere of this opera.
Before the premiere, we have asked Olja Jelaska several questions about her new opera and her musical activities.
