From Jordi Savall to Sonya Yoncheva: World’s finest musicians to perform in Dubrovnik this summer!

This year’s exceptionally eventful and varied music programme opens with the concert of the legendary, Grammy Award-winning artist Jordi Savall, one of the most versatile musicians of his generation and a tireless explorer of early music who saved many valuable works from oblivion. At the Rector's Palace Atrium, his ensemble Hespèrion XXI will present the programme Mare Nostrum: A Dialogue of Souls, a musical dialogue between Christian, Sephardic, Ottoman and Arabic-Andalusian music, and between musicians from Greece, Turkey, Israel, Palestine and different European countries.

This year’s edition of the Festival will be brought to a spectacular close with an Opera Gala concert featuring some of the finest opera singers of the day, soprano Sonya Yoncheva, the Maltese golden tenor Joseph Calleja and one of the most sought-after basses on the international scene, Ante Jerkunica, singing select opera arias accompanied by the Croatian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Ivan Repušić.

The staple of the Festival’s music programme, the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra will give their first Festival concert this season with one of the most sought-after Croatian soloists and winner of numerous international competitions, cellist Monika Leskovar, conducted by Sebastian Lang-Lessing, a conductor with an extensive repertoire who has served as principal conductor on five continents.

Led by the charismatic conductor Valentin Egel, the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra will share the stage at the Rector’s Palace with Pablo Sáinz-Villegas, world-renowned guitarist considered by many the successor of the legendary Andrés Segovia. Under the baton of the energetic Ivan Hut, the orchestra will premiere a new piece by Petar Obradović, a winner of the Orlando Prize. Like every year, the music programme will feature some of Croatia’s foremost artists, including one of the world’s best countertenors, Max Emanuel Cenčić, whose extensive biography includes numerous recordings and several Grammy nominations.

This season, Cenčić returns to Dubrovnik Summer Festival to perform with the Greek ensemble Latinitas Nostra, comprised of excellent musicians dedicated to cultivating the Baroque spirit of freedom and theatricality, founded by the renowned conductor Markellos Chryssicos, one of Greece’s greatest experts on early music. The Rector’s Palace will host virtuosic performances and interesting vocal and instrumental combinations of renowned domestic artists, including the excellent musicians of the Antiphonus Ensemble alongside the praised guitarist Petrit Çeku, followed by the world-renowned tenor Krešimir Špicer with award-winning pianist Lovre Marušić, who recently won second prize and special Robert Schumann Prize at the International Telekom Beethoven Competition in Bonn. The festival music programme also includes concerts of a duo consisting of prominent, artistically versatile soloists from Dubrovnik, pianist Marija Grazio and violist Marko Genero, as well as the Zagreb Quartet, Croatia’s oldest string ensemble, playing alongside one of the most successful Croatian pianists of the younger generation, Ivan Krpan.

One of the most prominent domestic chamber ensembles and recent winner of the Vatroslav Lisinski Award of the Croatian Composers Society for the contribution to Croatian music, the Papandopulo Quartet will also perform at the festival this year. The rich and varied music programme also includes performances of the leading international artists, both notable ensembles and first-class soloists. Firmly standing at the forefront of the new generation of string ensembles ever since they won the prestigious first prize at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, the Arod Quartet will perform at the Rector’s Palace, and the renowned pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard will give recital at the same venue.

Baroque roots of South American music will be presented at the concert entitled Vidala by the members of the Bach Consort Wien, mezzo-soprano Luciana Mancini, tenor Francisco Brito and Ruben Dubrovsky, artistic leader of the ensemble and author of the arrangements. The concert of the French violin virtuoso Renaud Capuçon is not to be missed. He received the Artist of the Year Award in January this year at the International Classical Music Award and will perform in Dubrovnik with pianist Guillaume Bellom. The music programme at the Rector’s Palace will be concluded with the benefit concert Youth for Youth, featuring Croatia’s best young musicians, pianist Jan Niković, double winner of the 20th Ferdo Livadić International Competition of Young Musicians, and guitarist Lovro Peretić, winner of the Jeunesses Musicales Croatia Ivo Vuljević Award, with the Luka Sorkočević Art School chamber ensembles.

The residents of the Dubrovnik-Neretva County are eligible for a 30% discount on tickets at the Festival Palace Box Office, upon presenting their ID, and additional 10% for Mastercard payments, a total discount of 40%.