After Zagreb, Zadar and Vienna, the Zagreb Guitar Quartet and actor Duško Modrinić will tell a story about Bersa’s life in his hometown of Dubrovnik. The programme entitled Bersa and His Contemporaries will take place on Saturday, 18 May at 20:00 at the Bunić-Kaboga Summer Villa as a continuation of collaboration between the Caboga Stiftung Foundation, Dubrovačka baština d.o.o. and the Dubrovnik Summer Festival.

Alongside Bersa’s works In the Old Way - Airs de ballet, Bizarre Serenade, Notturno and Mélancolie arranged by Melita Ivković, the programme consists of works by Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy, also arranged by Ivković, and parts of a ballet by Manuel de Falla arranged by Frane Verbanac. Manuel de Falla’s ballets are considered the most subtle stylisation of flamenco in the concert repertory and a reference for all future music combinations of this type. Blagoje Bersa’s verses will be interpreted by actor Duško Modrinić.

The Zagreb Guitar Quartet was founded in 1990, when Professor Ante Čagalj, a distinguished guitar pedagogue and artistic director, gathered some of his best students. Following several changes in the line-up, the current permanent members of the quartet are: Tomislav Vasilj, Krunoslav Pehar, Melita Ivković and Frane Verbanac. They have extensively performed in thirty countries on four continents – in the USA, Canada, Russia, China, India, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates – and in many European music capitals, such as London, Paris, Barcelona, Rome, Milan, Florence, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Brussels, Prague, Bratislava, Vienna, Graz, Ljubljana, Sarajevo. The ensemble was also successful in several prestigious international competitions and they were absolute winners in three of them: they won first prizes in Tortona (Italy, 1996) and Viareggio (Italy, 1998) and the Grand Prix in Przemyśl (Poland, 1998), which prompted Zbigniew Dubiella to publish the following text in the Swiat Gitary magazine: I have not heard something so exciting for years... all you can do after their performance is go outside and shout: Viva guitarra! The quartet won the Ivan Lukačić Award at the Varaždin Baroque Evenings in 1998 for best festival performance.

Tickets are available at the price of 180 KN from the Festival Box Office at the Festival Palace (Od Sigurate 1) every workday from 10:00 to 18:00, and the residents of the Dubrovnik-Neretva County are eligible for 30% discount. Bus transport to the venue is included in the ticket price. The bus departs on Saturday at 19:30 from Pile station and makes stop at the bus station in Vukovarska Street.