Croatian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra accompanied by the Croatian Radio and Television Choir and soloists, soprano Daria Auguštan, countertenor Franko Klisović, tenor Roko Radovan and baritone Leon Košavić, conducted by maestro Tomislav Fačini will traditionally close the 74th Dubrovnik Summer Festival on Friday, 25August at 10 p.m. with a grand concert in front of the Cathedral. The concert will be broadcast live on the First Programme of the Croatian Television (HRT) and the Third Programme of Croatian Radio (HR3).
On the carefully chosen programme brings Ottorino Respighi's I pini di Roma, a symphonic poem written in 1924 by Ottorino Respighi, then Psalm 23 from the Chichester Psalms by Leonard Bernstein, Gira la cote!... Perchè tarda la luna? from the opera Turandot by Giacomo Puccini, whose works exceptionally dramatic and sentimental, with characters developed to detail, and characterised by skilful orchestrations and his gift for melody. Ninfe! Elves! Silfi!... Sul fil d'un soffio etesio from Verdi's opera Falstaff, then Il cavallo scalpita from the opera Cavalleria rusticana as well as Viva il vino spumeggiante from the same opera by Pietro Mascagni will follow after which, towards the very end of the concert, the repertoire brings Polovtsian dances from the opera Prince Igor by one of the leading Russian scientists of his time, Alexander Borodin. The last composition of the final evening of the 74th festival season will be the Canzoniere for voices and instruments by Igor Kuljerić, who set to music the texts of the Dubrovnik Renaissance and Baroque poets Hanibal Lucić and Ivan Bunić Lučić and authors from Dinko Ranjina's anthology.
The Croatian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra is one of the oldest European radio orchestras: it grew out of an orchestra founded in 1929 for Radio-Zagreb, just six years after the foundation of the first European radio orchestra. It has borne its current title since 1991. Since September 2022, Pascal Rophé has been their chief conductor. The Croatian Radio and Television Choir was founded in 1941. Working first as a chamber ensemble, with time, it grew into the first large professional choir in Croatia. Performing a wide repertoire ranging from the Renaissance to modern music and a cappella, and with instrumental accompaniment, the choir displays its exceptional versatility, which has won it guest appearances across Europe and cooperation with a series of exceptional 20th and 21st century conductors. Their current hief conductor is maestro Tomislav Fačini, who, in addition to conducting, arranges and composes, and is a full professor at the Department of Conducting, Harp and Percussion at the Academy of Music in Zagreb. Since 2017, he has been the Assistant Artistic Director for the music programme of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival. He collaborated with almost all domestic and many foreign ensembles, and in addition to frequent performances at the Festival, he also conducted at its grand opening ceremonies in 2003, 2013 and 2023. Along with the Symphony Orchestra and Choir of Croatian Radio and Television, exceptional Croatian vocalists will also perform at the final concert opera gala. Darija Auguštan is one of Croatia's most sought-after young musicians. Her lyric soprano is characterised by a very beautiful colour, technical excellence and sonority and is extremely pleasant for the listener. She has already appeared in leading roles in numerous operas and operettas and is equally successful as an opera and concert artist. Countertenor Franko Klisović started his vocal studies and after only three months got the role of Ottone in G. F. Händel's opera Agrippina with which he debuted in 2016 at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb. Not long after that, alongside his conducting studies, he enrolled to study singing at the Music academy in Zagreb. Tenor Roko Radovan started his music education on the island of Korčula and continued it in Dubrovnik, where he finished secondary music school, majoring in trumpet performance. He is the leader of several award-winning klapa ensembles (traditional vocal groups), and he also writes and composes traditional vocal music. He is currently studying singing under Martina Gojčeta Silić at the Zagreb Academy of Music. Baritone Leon Košavić made his debut in 2012 at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb as Papageno in Mozart's Magic Flute, and then began conquering stages in Croatia, soon also the stages of major opera houses in Europe. He is the winner of numerous awards, and since 2020 he is a member of the ensemble and a principal singer of the Opera of the Croatian National Theatre Osijek since 2020.
Tickets for the gala are available via the festival website www.dubrovnik-festival.hr or the service www.ulaznice.hr, at the box office in the Festival Palace (Od Sigurate 1) every day from 9:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and in front of the DTS building (Vukovarska St) from Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
