October 5, 2023, Thursday, Croatian Home Split, 7.30 pm
Cantus Ensemble
Berislav Šipuš, conductor
Program:
Olja Jelaska: Butterflies, for 7 instruments
Mirko Krstičević: Whole lotta Zeppelin
Ivan Božičević: Sustainable Development, for chamber ensemble
Gordan Tudor: Wind Quintet
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Frano Parać: Memoriae, for alto and chamber ensemble
Mirela Ivičević: Dominosa Octarine, for flute and chamber ensemble
Ruben Radica: 72 Songs for Pope John Paul II, for the chamber ensemble
The ceremonial hall of the Croatian House Split will take on a new name this concert season. It will bear the name of one of Split’s most important musical and cultural personalities, Ivo Tijardović. A composer whose work was extensive and far-reaching and whose operettas have, with their melodies and unforgettable characters, become an integral part of Split’s identity.
Tijardović was guided by creative zeal, great and diverse talent, and numerous interests, with his work reaching from music to literature, translation, choreography, costume design, painting, and caricature drawing. He was a general manager and director, and his engagement was not focused exclusively on Split, although Split was the main source of his inspiration. Ivo Tijardović was also the first president of the Croatian Composers' Society, as well as one of the first conductors of the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra.
Since its formation in 2001, at the initiative of the Music Biennale Zagreb festival and under the leadership of Berislav Šipuš, Cantus Ensemble is dedicated to performing, researching, promoting, and encouraging production of contemporary Croatian music. The Ensemble is also engaged, in almost equal parts, in latest developments on the international music scene.
A special project is dedicated to the composers of the Split Circle, with whom the ensemble won the Judita Award at the 58th Split Summer Festival in 2012. The Ensemble has been enriching and further developing this programme for the performance that will be open the 2023/2024 season at the Croatian Home Split.
The programme includes compositions by the doyens of Split musical life. Whole Lotta Zeppelin by Mirko Krstićević, whose musical activity ranges from rock to classical, bridging genres in a range of attractive achievements, from rock hits to opera. Next is the rhythmic, playful composition Sustainable Development by the multi-award-winning Split composer and organist Ivan Božičević, followed by one of the anthological works of the Cantus Ensemble’s programme – Butterflies – a piece written by the Split composer Olja Jelaska, who is among the leading names of newer Croatian music.
They are joined by composers of the newer generation – saxophonist and composer Gordan Tudor with his sharp and often humorous musical expression, who will present the composition Wind Quintet. Tudor is joined by another internationally successful composer, Mirela Ivičević, whose interesting interactions of extramusical ideas and their achievements in music are introduced in one of the works from the Dominos cycle in which, as the name suggests, everything happens by domino effect. The piece chosen from the cycle is Dominosa Octarine for flute and instrumental ensemble.
One of the “classics” of contemporary music on this programme are Frano Parać and Ruben Radica. We will hear Memorie for voice and ensemble written by Frano Parać, a piece characterised by its Italian-Mediterranean nostalgia and Radica’s Litany of All Saints for Pope John Paul, 72 invocations of the chamber instrumental ensemble, often imbued with a deep and true spirituality.
The Croatian version of the text taken from the Croatian Home Split website.
