Last night the audience in the Rector's Palace was wowed by the outstanding performance The Music of Dubrovnik Summer Villas, led by brilliant soloists Bojan Čičić and Dmitry Sinkovsky on violins, and Tomislav Fačini on harpsichord. The performance also included the excellent Elena Davidova, Hiwote Tadesse, Fran Petrač, Lea Sušanj Lujo, Stjepan Nodilo, Manuela Marija Mitterer, Hermann Ebner, Atay Bağcı and Izidor Erazem Grafenauer, who were rewarded with enthusiastic applause.

The extraordinary programme included five Luka Sorkočević symphonies and Concerto favori, composed by his contemporary Ivan Jarnović who was also triumphed on the 18^th century European music scene. Bojan Čičić, who gave a phenomenal violin performance last night, re-discovered the Concerto’s sheet music all the way in London, which is a testament to Jarnović’s success and popularity. The performance was the first one in Dubrovnik since Jarnović himself had performed it here in the 18^th century. In April 2019, the aforementioned musicians met in St. Helena Church on the island of Brač and worked tirelessly on the first ever Croatian recording of all seven Sorkočević symphonies, in their original versions. The Sorkočević 7 record is published by the Dubrovnik Summer Festival on its 70^th anniversary with the generous help of the Caboga Stiftung foundation. This one-of-a-kind CD is available for purchase on the Dubrovnik Summer Festival website www.dubrovnik-festival.hr and at the box office of the Festival Palace (Od Sigurate 1).

Also featured on the evening’s programme were Cesare’s aria from Händel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto and Juditha’s aria from Vivaldi’s oratorio Juditha triumphans. The concert ended with a thunderous applause from the delighted audience.

The music programme of the Festival continues with a performance by the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra the very next day, 20 July, also in the Rector’s Palace atrium. The DSO will be joined by the esteemed trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger and conducted by the distinguished maestro Franz Anton Krager.