A young Croatian guitarist Robert Belinić will show his true talent at this year’s Dubrovnik Summer Festival on Monday, August 18^th in the unique ambient of the Rector’s Palace Atrium.

Festival Drama Ensemble will guest perform at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb with the Shakespeare's play "A Midsummer Night's Dream", directed by Dora Ruždjak Podolski on 24 May 2008.

After yesterday's world premiere of the program "Cinema and comedy" performed by Kremerata Baltica as well as the last theatre performance of the play "The Miser", the Festival was oficially closed.

A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare was written sometimes during the 1590s and in the spirit of a young director Dora Ruždjak Podolski, it premiered on the 58^th Dubrovnik Summer Festival. Since then, it has been performed on the stage of the Croatian National Theatre of Zagreb, and this year it will be played on the 54^th Split Summer Festival as well, July 18 in the Croatian National Theatre of Split.

After a long time opera has found its place within the program of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival. On August 23^rd, filling the public with delight, a classic by Handel, “Acis and Galatea” had its premiere at Lovrjenac Fort.

The visual identity of the 59th Dubrovnik summer festival is marked by Marin Držić, following the intention of the organizers to dedicate this year's Festival to this great writer and his anniversary.Basic visuals on promotional materials (posters, programs, entrance tickets...) are shot modeling still nature of old artisans.

The electric guitar that performed side by side with Sting, an opera singer of an extraordinary voice range, a contemporary Croatian musical ensemble – write the verses for an unforgettable evening of music at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival.

John Williams and John Etheridge are well-known contemporary music performers. They have been performing on stages all over the world for the last four decades by playing guitar and collaborating with a lot of respectable orchestras and solo artists. They will perform at the Festival on July 25^th.

Following the tradition, the opening ceremony of the 59th Dubrovnik summer festival will be held on July 10. After the ceremony itself directed by Krešimir Dolenčić, a spectacular firework will light up the sky which the invites will have a chance to see from the terrace of the Art Gallery where the official cocktail party of the games will be held.

The presentation of the book of translations of the genius piece of Marin Držić “Uncle Maroje” will be held on August 16^th in the Rector’s Palace Atrium with the beginning at 9.30. The editor of the book is a multitalented artist and poet from Dubrovnik Luko Paljetak.

Držić’s “The Miser” by Croatian National Theatre of Split will be performed two times at the same Festival’s evening due to the great audience interest.

International Master Class for jazz pianists, organized by Dubrovnik Summer Festival will be held on 24th and 25th July in the Revelin Fort. The class will be held by the world famous pianist Eldar Djangirov. 
 

The first festival premiere – “Darsa-farsa” by the professor Matko Sršen was held yesterday evening, July 17, in the Rector’s Palace Atrium. Many respectable people from Dubrovnik and elsewhere attended the premiere created by the 59^th Dubrovnik Summer Festival in collaboration with the Marin Držić Theatre.

After a long pause the setting of the opera Acis and Galatea by a German baroque composer George Friedric Handel fell in hands of one of the greatest conductors nowadays- to the British artist Philip Pickett. A Croatian director Dora Ruždjak Podolski, known for her rich theatre and opera opus, will help Pickett with the staging.

The great interest of the media resulted in more than 1500 published articles and the press office of the Festival accredited 183 journalists. Have a look at small part of reviews..

„Guardians of the tradition have every reason to be satisfied. “

„The performers at the Opening Ceremony exhibited both collision and sameness regarding the past and present, the heritage and tourism.“

Within the presentation of the City of Dubrovnik in Budapest, the Dubrovnik Summer Festival will present itself by a multimedia project by Damil Kalogjera entitled The Sounds and Sights on 19 March 2008 at the Institute of Middle-European Culture.

Grand opening of the 59. Dubrovnik Summer Festival will be held July 10 in front of St.Blaise's Church. This year's ceremony will be directed by Krešimir Dolenčić, director from Zagreb. Allready known to the Festival's auditorium, year after year he has been thrilling us with adjustments of classical theater pieces.

His inexhaustible directorship will spice up 6 decades old tradition of Dubrovnik Summer Festival opening.

After its first performance at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream directed by Dora Ruždjak Podolski will be premiered at the Croatian National Theatre of Zagreb on 21 October 2007.

Slovakian chamber orchestra Cappella Istropolitana from Bratislava will perform today, August 12^th in Rector’s Palace Atrium with the conductor Tomislav Fačini. The art of playing will also show trumpet soloists: Stanko Arnold, Vedran Kocelj, Krešimir Fabijanić, Jure Gradišnik, Marin Zokić and Dario Teskera.

“The Cinema & Comedy” is the name of the last project of Gidon Kremer, a leading music master nowadays. The world premiere will be in Dubrovnik on the day of the Closing Ceremony of the 59^th Dubrovnik Summer Festival.

On the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the birth of the greatest Croatian comedy writer Marin Držić, just a few days after the Opening ceremony of the 59th Dubrovnik Summer Festival, we will be able to witness an intriguing insight into Držić’s persona. The unique synthesis of Marin Držić’s literary opus and his biography is summed in Darsa-farsa, directed by professor Matko Sršen.

The Round Table on Festival Policies in Europe organised by European research network CIRCLE (Cultural Information and Research Centres Liaison in Europe) and the European Festival Research Project (EFRP) consortium, hosted by Interarts, was held in Barcelona on 19-20 October. The representatives of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival Ivica Prlender, General Manager and Ivana Medo, PR Manager were also present among other twenty representatives of european cultural institutions.

During the unique period of Marin Držić in Dubrovnik, the audience of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival will have a chance to see three different interpretations of “The Miser” by Marin Držić: one by the Marin Držić Theatre featuring Branimir Vidić, one from Split in which the role of the Miser is personalized by Pero Kvrgić and that of the Festival which is expected on August 20^th where the main role will be played by Goran Grgić.

The Croatian Embassy in Hungary and the City of Dubrovnik realized the project entitled Dubrovnik in Budapest, within which the Dubrovnik Summer Festival presented itself with the multimedia presentation The Sounds and Sights by Damil Kalogjera on 19 March 2008.

The Festival will once more present a timeless play by Marin Držić – the show Plakir. The play will be performed on July 30^th in the Marin Držić Theatre celebrating the 500th birthday anniversary of our big renaissance drama writer and 60 years of the Zagreb Puppet Theatre, In this play, the audience of the Festival will be able to enjoy in the interweaving of the fairy world an the old Dubrovnik, antic gods and naive shepherds, tender love story and brute joke.

At the very beginning of cultural nights in August, 59^th Dubrovnik Summer Festival will host an already known participant of the music program of the respectable Festival –Varaždin Chamber Orchestra.  The Orchestra will perform contemporary works by Piazzolla, Piatti, Romero and Sollima.on 1^st of August at 21.30 in the Rector’s Palace Atrium. Respectable world soloists, cello player Monika Leskovar and violin player and conductor Giovanni Sollima will also perform with the Orchestra.

The parliament delegacy from Japan, headed by the vice-president of the Upper House Nj.E. Ms Akiko Santo, visited Dubrovnik and stayed there from 18th till 20th of July.  During the Saturday afternoon, guests from Japan visited the cultural sites of the city and went to see the pianos, cellos and the lighting equipment – a donation of the Japanese government which was given to the city of Dubrovnik in 2002. and is used by the Dubrovnik Summer Festival.

Four-year long collaboration of Mazda Croatia and the Dubrovnik Summer Festival will be continued. Like previous summers, the automobiles of this respectable company will be at disposal to reputable artists. In the accordance with that, Marko Maranić, the director of Mazda Croatia, handed the keys of five automobiles to Ivica Prlender, the director of the Festival for a year.

On Friday, August 8^th in the Sponza Palace Atrium beginning at 21.30., a unique presentation of a sound recorded cycle by expert of fine arts from Dubrovnik, Maja Nodari will be held in the scope of the cultural program of the 59.Dubrovnik Summer Festival. 

 -Free entrance

Raising the Libertas flag on the Orlando statue while Gundulić’s Ode to Liberty playing and the ceremony between the St.Blaise’s church and Sponza Palace, last night 59^th Dubrovnik Summer Festival has been opened, the greatest cultural manifestation which is dedicated to 500^th anniversary of the greatest Croatian renaissance comedy player.

Folklore ensemble “Linđo”, often called the “good spirit” of the city of Dubrovnik has been erforming for almost fifty years. Today, “Linđo” has more than 3000 members and acts in numerous cultural manifestations. Its extraordinary activity is also registered outside the borders of Croatia, and it is important to emphasize that wherever it goes, under the guidance of its art director Sulejman Muratović, the ensemble has top results and often wins many prestigeous prizes.

A great violinist and conductor Shlomo Mintz will perform at the Festival together with the pianist Petr Jiříkovský, on th 14th July in the Rector's Palace Atirum

“The Miser” by Marin Držić, first in the line of this year’s performances, will be held on July 25^th, instead of the scheduled 21^st. Marin Držić Theatre performance has been postponed due to some other engagements of the troupe.

The premiere of "The Words From The Mountains" will be held tonight, July 27th on Bošković Square with the beginning at 9.30 pm. In the spirit of the anniversary of the birth of the contemporaries Petar Zoranić and Marin Držić, the play The Words from the Mountains is conceptualised as a peculiar overlapping of the two cult works of the Croatian renaissance literature: The Mountains and Tirena.

Milovan Stanić’s portrait of Marko Fotez, the leading figure of the Croatian theatre and spiritual founder of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, was presented to the Festival on 4 October 2007 at the Festival Palace. Within the Festival’s fine arts programme and in collaboration with the Begović Art Studio the exhibition of the exquisite painter and Festival’s chronicler Milovan Stanić was set up last summer. Thus, the Sponza Palace visitors had the opportunity to see a portrait cycle presenting one of the finest and most precious artistic chronicles of an institution.

After a longer break, Uncle Maroje will be performed at the Festival, but this time in an innovative way by the director Ozren Prohić and drama ensemble of Croatian National Theatre from Zagreb.

The 59^th Dubrovnik Summer Festival will host a Hungarian  theatre “Csokonai” from Debrecen on August 6^th. Debrecen theatre is a part of the European manifestation “The year of renaissance” and they took a challenge to revive the well known comedy “Uncle Maroje” by Marin Držić. 

Darsa- Farsa by the director Matko Sršen is this year’s first drama premiere at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival. It will be performed on July 17th and a great audience is expected.

The German- Japanese cellist Danjulo Ishizaka will perform today, August 5^th in Rector’s Place Atrium playing Bach, Penderecki and Britten. This world known musician has already performed at the last year’s Festival and won the audience with his interpretation of some of the greatest music classics.

Again this year the Dubrovnik Summer Festival of drama, music and dance will be hosting folklore ensemble Lado on July 18^th with the beginning at 9.30 pm on the beautiful terrace of Revelin Fort. The very next day at the same place and time, those hungry for more may attend their vocal performance conducted by Dražen Kurilovčan on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the artistic work of Tomislav Uhlik.

The book “Marin Držić's 500th Birthday 1508 - 2008“will be presented in the Sponza Palace Atrium, July 16 at midnight, marking the 500th birth anniversary of this writer from Dubrovnik. The book is a collection of essays of modern authors written by Slobodan Prosper Novak, Josip Torbarina, Cvito Fisković, Riccard Picchio, Henrik Birnbaum, Fran Čale and Radoslav Katičić edited by Viktoria Franić Tomić. The book was published by  the publishing house Litteris in collaboration with the House of Marin Držić from Dubrovnik. We are expecting you!

On Monday, July 20th in the Rector’s Palace Atrium within the program of the 59^th Dubrovnik Summer Festival, the Croatian Radio and Television Choir will hold a concert conducted by Tonči Bilić.

Uncle Maroje by Marin Držić in the production of Macedonian National Theatre from Skopje with the professional help of Joško Juvančić, director from Dubrovnik, will be held tomorrow, July 31st in Marin Držić Theatre.

 

Tonight at 24:00 in the Sponza Palace Atrium, organized by the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, there will be an exhibition opening by the sculpturist Vitold Košir named “Book of Magic”. With his recent works, young sculptor from Zagreb, Vitold Košir, included himself into the marking of the 500^th birthday anniversary of Marin Držić, to whom this whole year is dedicated.
 
The exhibition is opened till July 28.

Rising of the Festival flag on July 10 will mark the beginning of the 59. Dubrovnik Summer Festival, a manifestation of music and theatre which will last for 47 days. Till August 15 on 15 open theatre locations of the renaissance Dubrovnik, about 80 theatre, music, dance and opera performances will be held. Thanks to the traditional sponsorships of Vip, support of the Ministry of Culture, numerous sponsors and donors, the Dubrovnik Summer Festival will host more than 2000 artists from more than 20 countries of the world.

“The Great Runners“, exhibition by Dubravka Lošić was opened on 2nd of August as a part of the off-program of the 59th Dubrovnik Summer Festival. The exhibition was opened by the general director of the Festival Ivica Prlender and Margarita Sveštarov Šimat.

Croatian National Theatre of Varaždin is at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival for the first time performing the masterpiece by the playwright from Dubrovnik. Formal premiere of this play will be held within the 38^th Varaždin Baroque Nights.

At Midnight, July 27^th in the Rector’s Palace Atrium, an unusual concert with free entrance will be held thanks to the generosity of the Festival. The blend of traditional musical art and the advancement of modern technology will enavle the audience of the Summer Festival to enjoy the beautiful piano sounds without the direct intermediation of the artist.

Eldar Djangirov, an eminent jazz pianist, will perform two concerts at this year’s Dubrovnik Summer Festival, and will hold an International Master Class for jazz pianists on July 24^th and 25^th, in Revelin Fort.

The General Assembly and Conference of the European Festivals Association (EFA) will take place in Turkey's Mediterranean province of Antalya from 24 to 27 April. The theme of this year's conference will be "Festivals in a Globalizing World-Challenges of International & Cultural Cooperation Beyond European Borders." Ivica Prlender, General Manager of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival will be one of 150 European Festival Managers who will take part at the conference. That will be an opportunity to discuss possible cooperations between those most eminent cultural events in Europe.

This summer, Dubrovnik will host the deans of the Acadamies of Fine Arts which will, in cooperation with the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, hold a symposium based on the theme Libertas: Freedom as a Result and a Condition of Art. The symposium will be held on 16 and 18 of July in Revelin Fort.

The concert of young Russian pianist Miroslav Kultišev, a classical music star who won the last year’s 13^th international competition “Čajkovski” in Moskva, will be held on July 28^th in Rector’s Palace Atrium with the beginning at 9.30pm.

There are only eight days left before the traditional manifestation on July 10 when the Count will open the doors to the 59. Dubrovnik summer of drama, music and dance.

“Europai Utas - European Traveller”, a respectable Hungarian magazine proves that a quality is respected. Publishing reports about interesting happenings around the globe and exclusive interviews with either cultural or state officials, Europai Utas published a review of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, the leading manifestation in this part of Europe.

Author and director Matko Sršen and set designer Sven Riedl came to Dubrovnik in order to make preparations for the play "Darsa - Farsa" which will have its first show at the Rector's Palace in Dubrovnik on 16 July 2008. The play will be a co-production between the Dubrovnik Summer Festival and Marin Držić Theatre in Dubrovnik.

A less known piece “Arkulin” by the playwright Marin Držić will be performed for four festive evenings, starting on August 9^th, and on 10^th, 11^th and 12^th of the same month. Encouraged by the last year's success of the premiere, when an additional show was played on the request of the public, the entire crew and the director Krešimir Dolenčić will try to win the sympathies of the Festival’s aduience and visitors of the city of Dubrovnik once more at the Luka Sorkočević Art School Park.

The three world stars- Inva Mula, Ramon Vargas and Vjekoslav Šutej, but also the stars of Dubrovnik, accompanied by the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, on July 15^th will enchase the evening performing the extracts from the operas which made them famous in the City’s most beautiful concert venue , where the Opening Ceremony also took place.

On Sunday, August 24^th, Croatian National TV will cover two programs from the 59^th Dubrovnik Summer Festival which will be emitted on the channel 1.of Croatian National TV.

On one of the last evenings of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, a concert that will most certainly impress true lovers of a true musical joy – the performance of the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra and three excellent young soloists that the Festival’s audience had the chance to listen on Sunday. The concert will be held on August 19^th in the ambience of the Rector’s Palace Atrium at 21.30.

The Festival management presented the Festival programme for the first time in Brussels one day preceding the Dubrovnik presentation. The press conference organised on that occasion was attended by journalists in the field of culture and tourism.

An excellent play, the last Festival’s premiere, directed by Ivica Kunčević, evoked delight and a great applause at its premiere August 20 on Bošković Square.

Pianist Martina Filjak will perform for the first time in front of the public of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival on Saturday, August 9^th at the Rector’s Palace Atrium. She will interpret pieces of Beethoven, Bach, Busoni, Ravel, Brahms and other masters with brilliant composing skills.
 

Book of collected translations of one of the most performed Držić comedies “Uncle Maroje”  was presented yesterday in the Rector’s Palace Atrium. The book edited by the academic Luko Paljetek contains 18 different translations and is a result of joint efforts of Matica Hrvatska – division of Dubrovnik and Dubrovnik Summer Festival.

In addition to the rich official program of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, again this year the Festival will offer an interesting off program with free entrance for all visitors.

Local sale of entrance tickets for the program of Dubrovnik Summer Festival is opened. The tickets for the rich theater, music and dance program can be bought from July 2 in a sales office located on Stradun opened from 09-23. In addition, tickets can be reserved and bought via internet, through this link.

A unique concert, musical classics in the interpretation of three excellent young artists – pianist Milana Chernyavska, violinist Susanna Yoko Henkel and the great Croatian cellist Monika Leskovar will be held on August 17^th in the fascinating ambient of the Rector’s Palace Atrium.

The arrival of the numerous foreign reporters on the 59th Dubrovnik Summer Festival proves its international recognition. Besides the already announced arrival of Suze Yalof, reporter form the New York's magazine and web-portal Glamour, this year's Opening Ceremony will also be visited by a reporter from Hungary, writing for the magazine „Nepszabasag“.

On 1 February 2008 within the Festivity of patron saint of Dubrovnik, St Blaise, and various occasional events, the programme of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival was officially presented. The Festival Director Ivica Prlender presented the preliminary programme of the 59th Festival which will take place from 10 July to 25 August 2008. On that occasion a comic opera by the Dubrovnik composer Frano Đurović, based on Držić's comedy Pjerin, entitled «Eto vas» was performed. This was an appropriate introduction into the theatre and music programme of the Festival taht will both be in the spirit of the anniversary of Marin Držić.

This Croatian literature classic will again this August give its contribution to Festival’s theatre performances. Equinox written by Ivo Vojnović and directed by Joško Juvančić, won the prize of Croatian Theatre Association for the best play in 2004 and since than has been one of the greatest drama performances in nearly 60 years long tradition.