Diana Brekalo (Photograph: Jasna Lovrincevic)

Pianist star Diana Brekalo, who by her musicianship and virtuosity inspired the leading English composers Christopher Gunninag and Peter Fribbinas to write works especially for her, while Croatian composer Milko Kelemen entrusted her with the premiere performance of his Sonata oubliée in London, and the German composer Hubertus Schwinge with recording his works on four albums, for her piano recital in Germany and in London she chose works by female composers from the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century. The concerts titled Rebellious Female Composers she performed in Liederhalle in Stuttgart on March 10th and in the Lancaster Hall in London on March 14th.

In the Liederhalle in Stuttgart, the enthusiastic audience did not stop with loud ovations and thunderous applause as an expression of sincere joy and gratitude after each performance.

Diana Brekalo introduced herself to the audience in Liederhalle not only as an excellent pianist, but also as an excellent presenter, introducing each composer individually. She chose interesting and key details from their biographies that best characterize them; their personality and approach to music. She told about Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, that her father did not allow her to perform in public, so her brother Felix performed her works under his own name, while Clare Schumann’s father strongly encouraged her to compose.

Brekalo started the piano recital with two movements by Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel work The Year: January The Dream and February Scherzo and at the very beginning she impressed the audience with her convincing and inspired interpretation,with her lightness and virtuoso octave performance. Brekalo emphasized how Anne de Belleville/Oury met the leading composers of her time, Beethoven, Chopin and Verdi, and played together with Paganini. In her composition Rigoletto Phantasy, these acquaintances are precisely reflected through the processing of recognizable themes by famous composers. Melanie Bonis sent her compositions to competitions where she won under the pseudonym M. Bonis, and the members of the jury considered that it was a male person. Lily Boulanger, with lasting health problems what can be felt in the melancholy of her works was the first woman – composer won a competition. It was Prix de Rome. Brekalo performed three movements from her Trois morceaux pour piano, with meditative parts and beautiful pianissimo. For Dora Pejačević, Brekalo pointed out that she was looking for new musical forms and that as a countess she could not identify with the social class to which she belonged by birth and how she spent most of her time in the company of artists and publicists. For the concert in the Liederhalle, Brekalo chose Sonata op. 57. by Pejacevic.

Diana Brekalo played each composition with lithness, dynamically impeccable, virtuoso and with a lot of feeling and expressiveness, and on the other hand temperament and energetic, but always very musically. Her pianissimo is beautiful, quiet but sonorous which few can achieve. She fantastically conveyed to the audience all that radiates from the performed works and all the feelings that she brought into the interpretation.

Diana Brekalo (Photograph: Jasna Lovrincevic)

Her entire performance in the Liederhalle, from her first step on stage to taking a bow at the end, was a fantastic performance that captivated the audience from beginning to end. Diana Brekalo simply moved the audience with her performance, smile, immediacy, presentation of the pianists, posture and creation of a special atmosphere, which the audience rewarded with a standing ovation, everyone stood up in delight to pay her respects and thank her.

Following Diana Brekalo concert in London I spoke with her about her impressions of her London concert and about the resonance about the female composers

Diana Bekalo: The concert in London was also very successful. The audience was very excited about the stories of the lifes by the women composers. Their favorite music in the concert was the Pejacevic Sonata and the Rigoletto Phantasy by Anne de Belleville. They all thought it was throughout a fantastic concert, where they learnt a lot and were fascinated to discover some more music.

Jasna Lovrincevic:How did you do your research and scores for the female composers and their lifes!?

Diana Brekalo: It was quiet challenging to find the only biography about Dora Pejacevic written by Koraljka Kos. My cousin sent me a link to a second hand store in Zagreb, where I was able to order the Croatian version of the biography.
Some of the scores I was able to find on the Internet. However I did have a score which I received from the Croatian consular in Stuttgart a long time ago. During that time it was lead by Dr Vera Tadic and the cultural attache Mrs Belamaric. Apart from that I visited the Pejacevic castle in Osijek back in 2019 and actually was going to visit the Castle in Nasice in summer 2023. Unfortunately there were refurbishments at the castle at that time, so I am planning to continue my research this summer. I’ll be looking forward to see the grand piano on which she was practicing and composing. Apart from that I was also visiting the Mendelssohn House in Leipzig where I read a few letters by Fanny Mendelssohn and her father. It was very exciting and interesting to see the garden in which the famous garden concerts took place. I remember reading that Fanny used the possibility to perform her music at this concert. There are a few books and biographies however I feel it is missing more informations.

Jasna Lovrincevic: Do you feel a difference or something female like in their music?

Diana Brekalo (Photograph: Jasna Lovrincevic)

Diana Brekalo: To be honest I don’t feel a difference while performing music by the female composers. Maybe the flower titles are more likely to be written by a female composer. However it was the best example that Melanie Bonis won a composition competition by signing her score as M. Bonis, so nobody assumed it could be a women writing such wonderful music.
I especially feel the second Sonata by Pejacevic and definitely Fanny Mendelssohn’s work have a strong and deep musical insight so it is worth performing it more in the future.

Diana Brekalo was born in Stuttgart, where her talent for music was recognized very early, she is the winner of several national and prestigious international competitions for pianists. She completed her music studies at the Guidhall School of Music and Drama in London, where she also obtained a Master of Music for performance.
She is engaged at the School of Music in Würzburg, gives master classes and she is a member of different pianist competition juries in Germany and England. Her performance of the Clara Schumman concerto was selected for the Canadian film The White Fortress, presented at the 2021 Berlinale International Film Festival.

Diana Brekalo (Photo: Jasna Lovrincevic)

Enigmatica Opus E is the latest album by internationaly recognised pianist Diana Brekalo with the music from German composer Hubertus Schwinge. The album is recorded in Potton Hall Recording Studio in England. A musical exploration of truth, perception and delusion through eight contrasting movements, Enigmatica presents the theatre in two acts with four scenes. Celebrating the launch of the CD in Stuttgart, on April, 13. 2018, Hubertus Schwinge explained that the sources for his music were the piano improvisations based on classical musik he created during his twenty years accompaniment of the dancers (at the piano) at the “Studio for Rhythm” in Hannover.

This is the second Brekalo’s album with musik by Hubertus Schwinge. The first one was “24 Nocturnes Opus N”, published 2015.

With Diana Brekalo, known for her brilliant technique and musicianship, especially the ability to elevate the performed work to a high artistic level, I spoke after release of her new album.

Diana Brekalo and Hubertus Schwinge (Photo: Jasna Lovrincevic)

Jasna Lovrincevic: “How did it happen that you recording the music by Hubertus Schwinge again?Did you already perform the Enigmatica?”
Diana Brekalo: “Hubertus Schwinge was very enthusiastic about my recording and the performances of the “24 Nocturnes”. And because that CD had sold quite well, he asked me after the celebration of his 70th birthday, if I could imagine to record his big Enigmatica. Of course, I was very touched with that opportunity and I agreed.”

Jasna Lovrincevic: “The Enigmatica lasts quite long, for 71.26 minutes. How long did you prepare for its recording?”

Diana Brekalo: “My impressions of Enigmatica are that it is a very long, profound work, very rich in contrast in its character and style. For example the contrast between the first movement and the Minnelied (the third movement) is very big. Furthermore, it was also a challenge for me to learn the whole work of 72 minutes and to take over this responsibility for its first recording. I am a person who likes to take on challenges and do my best to make the music accessible to each listener.”

Jasna Lovrincevic: “What were the recording conditions of the recording studio?
Diana Brekalo: The circumstances for the CD recording were great. Hubertus Schwinge said I could choose a studio in England that I like and that is financially viable for him. We had several options but none was 100% perfect. Since I recorded the Sonata for Pianoforte by Christopher Gunning at Potton Hall back in 2014, in Potton Hall I knew what a great grand piano I would have. So I suggested this studio because it was also very secluded from the city. We could record at any time. The accommodation was right next door, our hosts made food for us when we wanted, the piano tuner adapted to my needs, and I also had a swimming pool, sauna and steam room. So it was everything that makes me happy and there were the best conditions for a successful CD recording. With the sound engineer Luca Gardani I had already worked together several times and we have, as always, understood each other very well.”

Trio Solarek

Jasna Lovrincevic:”For the last period of time you have often performed with Trio Solarek. When did you beginn to play with it? What kind of repertoir do you have? How do you coordinate your rehearsals, because the Trio’s members lieve in different countries?”
Diana Brekalo: “I have been playing with Trio Solarek since 2011. I played piano concertos twice, 2008 and 2010, with violinist Marina Solarek, who was the Concert master in the orchestra. At that time, Germany played at the World Football Championship against Brazil and I was allowed to leave the rehearsal earlier. I sent Marina Solarek the scores via sms while she kept rehearsing with the Orchestra. Since she also comes from Germany and we both were looking forward to Germany, we got along very well right from the start.

Then she called me in summer 2011 and said, her pianist got sick and if I would play a concert in Bremerhaven with her trio. Of course I had to check my appointments and confirmed it. We played Brahms Trio Opus 8, Trio in D major by Joseph Haydn and a little bit more. I got along really well with the cellist Miriam Lowbury and we have been playing concerts together since then. The repertoire is very extensive. Our last concert consisted only of female composers, then from time to time we perform something contemporary, Brahms, Shostakovich and the classics of course. Our rehearsals always take place when I am anyway in the UK, have concerts in London or they visit me in Stuttgart. Then I play my recitals and we rehearse in between. As Marina still plays the violin in the Royal Opera House and Miriam in the BBC Concert Orchestra, we always have to coordinate the dates together. But so far it has worked very well and I enjoy playing music together with them. Learning and shaping together, other repertoire is a lot of fun. Marina, for example, flew to the Schott Publishing House in Mainz to copy the notes of a “forgotten” composer named Johanna Senfter. She will now rewrite the manuscripts on a computer program so that we can prepare another of the five trios for concerts in 2019. Johanna was a student by Max Reger and wrote a total of 9 symphonies and has an interesting compositional style. We are very curious to see how this discovery will continue and we look forward to further joint projects.”

Jasna Lovrincevic: “Last year you made your music theatre debut. What kind of challenge was it for you?”
Diana Brekalo: “The concert theater under the direction of An-Ting Chang 2017 was a very exciting project. We performed Anne Bronte’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall together with two actors and myself on stage. In several performances I have performed Skriabin 24 Preludes, Mozart Violin Sonata in B flat major, Brahms Rhapsody op. 79 and the Edward Ballad. We rehearsed around the twelve weeks in the first four months of 2017, made the backdrop together, edited the lyrics together, discussed costumes and what role I schould play in the piece. The actors acted from time to time in the rhythm of the music, sometimes the music amplified the dramaturgy. Sometimes I played Annabella and with eyes and facial expressions showed different reactions, so I improvised very extensive. I had a lot to do. Ninety minutes almost constant playing without break was very exhausting. We had a great response and a lot of fun, but also we had a bit of drama during the intense rehearsals. It was also interesting for me to see how different actors work and understand music.”

Diana Brekalo (Photo: Jasna Lovrincevic)

Jasna Lovrincevc: “What is your next project?”
Diana Brekalo: “In July 2018, I will have the pleasure to play at the Syssma Chamber Music Festival in Finland. Together with Elisar Riddelin we will perform a piano quartet called “Chasse Neige” written by young Sauli Zinovjev and Franck ‘s Violin Sonata. Violin: Elisar Riddelin, Viola: Vuokko Lahtinen, cello: Sirja Nironen are the musicians I am going to collaborate together. In the second concert half we will play Brahms Piano Quartet in C minor. It will be a lot of fun, as the violinist was my piano student.”

Diana Brekalo

Since the beginning of her career piano star Diana Brekalo has been performing regularly in Great Britain and in Germany, and in both countries she has recorded the albums. In May 2016, her second album was realesed with works by contemporary German composer Hubertus Schwinge, and in 2017 she will performe world premiere of Hubertus Schwinge’ s Enigmatica.

In December 2016 I spoke with Diana Brekalo about her new album, upcoming concert in London and about Fazioli pianos.

Jasna Lovrinčević: “Since September 2016 you have been performing frequently in UK and Germany. Alongside performances n Cambridge, Munich and Würzburg you have performed several times in London and Stuttgart. Could you say more about your performances in London and in the UK. Who das organize the concerts and how do you choose the program? ”

Diana Brekalo: “The past few months I’ve been several times in London and Cambridge, where I had a number of different projects. The concerts in London are organized mostly by the organizers I already have since my study time in London, and cooperation with them has always been a joyful meetings with nice people.

In Germany, one of the concerts was with my dear sister Dolores Brekalo, also a pianist. She won the second prize at Federal German Competition for Chamber Music in 2000 in Berlin. Dolores Brekalo studied music science and obtained her masters degree in history. Most of my concert programs I choose in consultation with my sister Dolores.

In a short time I try to select a program which is interesting and unusual for the audience. Sometimes I try to educate audience too and I don’t focus only on the standard, well known musical works. I like to include in my concert program also the works by Croatian and contemporary composers. Of course, such a program can be performed in the metropolis where audience is opened for contemporary music. I’m not supporter of mainstream concert program. By that, I mean the standard scheme of the music program.”

Emperor Concerto With Darrell Davison

Jasna Lovrinčević: “On 11 February 2017 in Croydon you will play the great Emperor concerto by Ludwig van Beethoven. Could you tell us more about it. Have you already had rehearsal? Do you have some new approach to this concerto regarding your interpretation of the same concerto ten years ago and your recent performance with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra? ”

Diana Brekalo: “In Croydon I will perform with the Croydon Symphony Orchestra under the conductor Darrell Davison. I have had great pleasure to perform five or six times with this extraordinary conductor. Concerts with the conductor Darrell Davison have been performed following my first prize at Contest Concerto Competition in Croydon and the winning aword included few performances with that orchestra. I have already performed Beethoven’s Emperor Piano Concerto, Rachmanjinoff ‘s Concerto No 2 and No 3, Tchaikovsky’ s concerto and Sergei Prokofiev’s Concerto No. 2. Rehearsal for a concert in February 2017 it will be just before the concert and it means I will have only one rehearsal.

My first performance of Beethoven’s No 5. piano concerto was 2007, in Coesfeld in Germany, under the baton of German conductor Alexander Scherf. My interpretation in relation to that concert will be certainly different because I am now ten years more mature and I have more routine and my motivation and inspiration are probably quite different. Now I can more deeper and more studiously go into details and I am now more independent and self confident. This is one of my favorite piano concerto so I think I’ll enjoy it.”

New Album

Jasna Lovrinčević: “Recently, in Stuttgart, you have performed Toccata from Rhythmiana by Hubertus Schwinge. Could you say more about the latest collaboration with composer Hubertus Schwinge, his Rhythmiana as well as Enigmatica whose world premiere you have announced for 2017. ”

Diana Brekalo: “The renowned German composer Hubertus Schwinge composed Rhythmiana when he was still active as a pianist, playing with dance groups in Scandinavia, so that the most of the works from Rhythmiana are dance music. In May 2016 I had recorded it and CD will be realised next year. World premiere of Enigmatica is also planned for 2017. It is quite demanding musical work with two movements. Hubertus Schwinge calls it Music Theatre. Enigmatica is divided on the scenes. The titels od the scenes are, for example: “Rumpelsstilzchen ” or “Dancer in the Arena.” The works last about 45 minutes and I really look forward to premier it. Unfortunately, I have had no enough time to go into details because I have been very busy: alongside teaching at the University of Music in Würzburg and at the musical school in Stuttgart, I had performances of my students and I adjudicated different piano competitions.”

Fazioli Grand Piano

Diana Brekalo, Paolo Fazioli (right), Slavko Brekalo – Diana’s father (left)

Jasna Lovrinčević: “In November 2016 you performed on Fazioli grand piano at the Piano Fischer Musikhaus in Stuttgart. It is interesting that you know prof. Paolo Fazioli, famous piano designer and producer, since your childhood, and several times you have met him. You have been always very happy to play on Fazioli piano. Could you tell us more details about Fazioli piano, when did you play for the first time on the Fazioli piano, what distinguishes Fazioli piano from Stainway piano ones and what is for you especially attractive abou this piano? Where have you played on the piano Fazioli and do you have desire to own one? ”

Diana Brekalo: “I met prof. Paolo Fazioli when I was six and a half years old. He was very favorable, and already at that time he prophesied and expressed desire for my bright future and trusted in me. In recent years I have met prof. Fazioli several times. During my studies at University in London I had a chance to talk with the masters – piano makers. They emphasized and praised the fantastic work of Fazioli piano producers. Fazioli pianos are made by hand not as a Steinway by machinery and the company produces about one hundred pianos a year. This is my favorite piano and I have always had a lot of pleasure when I performed and played on the Fazioli piano. Fazioli pianos do not “screaming” in the descant like a Steinway pianos and they are higly sophisticated and very balanced and how to describe; it is “a fascinating perfection of the art”. After the concert on 5 November on the Fazioli piano I described a feeling when you play on that piano as a driving a Maserati, a car with a perfect machine. A few times I have played on Fazioli piano in Munich and Stuttgart. In the year 2004, at Züblin- Haus I played on Fazioli piano Liszt’s 2nd Piano Concerto. Of course, I would like to own one Fazioli piano, but I need more space for it, and who knows how many times I’m going to move in the future. ”

Jasna Lovrinčević: “What did you performed on the Fazioli piano on 5 November 2016? Did you personally select the program for that concert?”

Diana Brekalo: “At the concert on November 5th 2016, I performed a couple of preludes by Alexander Scriabin op 11: No 1, No11, No 12, No 18, No 19 and No 24. I also played Romance by Jean Sibelius, because I consider that the Sibelius music for piano is unusual and very interesting. At the end, I crowned my performance with the first waltz of Franz Liszt’s Mephisto, so the audience listened something known as a superb piano work.”

Christopher Gunning and Diana Brekalo

Extraordinary pianist Diana Brekalo presented her second CD in this year, “Sonata for Pianoforte” by Christopher Gunning, in London, on 12 December 2015. Christopher Gunning, world famous composer, outhor of music for the films Grace Kelly, La Vie en Rose, Firelight and for the TV series Poirot, four time BAFTA Aword winner (Britisch Academy of Film and Television Arts), in the CD booklet has written that he was impressed by Diana’s performances of contemporary music, which inspired him to write for her a piano piece “wich would explore her extraordinary technique and musicianship”.

Five movements Sonata for Fortepiano is conceptually challenging piano piece with rational structure, but overcome by composer’ ingenious musicality, which whole piece has elevated to a high artistic level, developing each initial idea to its fullness.

Diana’s performance is excellent with impeccable technique and dynamic. She performes technically demanding sections with lightness and brings each theme clearly with dynamic and nuances,
following development of the piece with great musicality.

Erste CD With 24 Nocturnes

The Diana’s album, titled “24 Nocturnes Opus N” , presented in Stuttgart in October 2015. has been well received with remarkable resonance. “The music pieces titeled Nocturnes represent night, and “they are reminiscent of a difficult times” said composer Hubertus Schwinge on the presentation of that CD. After hearing Diana’s performances of his nocturnes, Hubertus Schwinge, excited by her poetic nterpretation, immediately wanted Diana Brekalo to record a album with all his 24 nocturnes.

Promotion of Croatian Composers

Diana Brekalo and Monika Giurgiuman

With release of these two albums Diana Brekalo finished this successful year. In 2015 Diana performed also two world premieres, “Sonata for Pianoforte” by Christopher Gunning in the church in Notting Hill Gate in March, and “Sonata oubliée” or “Forgotten Sonata” by Milko Kelemen, Croatian and world leading avant garde composer. Performance of Kelemen’s Sonata took place on 19 May, in the center of London, in the church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, under the high patronage of the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Diana Brekalo shone in full light and won the audience. After the concert the people in long queues waited for her autograph.

The Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was the patron of the second Brekalo’s great concert in London, held on 22 January at Rosslyn Hill Chapel in Hampstead. Diana Brekalo performed piano pieces by Croatian composers Ivo Josipovic and Mladen Tarbuk. It was a benefit concert, held for charitable purpose, directed to rebuild the library at Primary School in Gunja, badly damaged by last year’s flooding.
At the same concert Diana Brekalo performed together with her international Trio Solarek and the mezzo-soprano Mae Heidron.

Clara Schumann

Diana Brekalo and Dolores Brekalo

This year was also for Brekalo characterized by great composer and pianist Clara Schumann. Diana Brekalo performed Clara’s piano concerto, Op 7, in A Minor, with the Symphonic Orchestra of the Stuttgart Orchesterverein in front of two thousand spectators at Beethoven Hall, in famous Liederhalle Concert Complex in Stuttgart.

The second concert connected with Clara Schumann, Diana Brekalo performed on 4. December 2015 at the National Museum in Stuttgart together with her sister Dolores Brekalo, master of history and science of music. Diana played works by Clara and Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms, and Dolores Brekalo masterfully guided through their works. Diana performed on a Double Piano, called Pleyel, from the 19th century, set as an exhibit in the museum. The construction of the double piano Pleyel requires a special piano playing technique and Diana Brekalo had master it , offering an unique experience for the audience because they could exiperience how the piano music had sounded at the time of the great romantics. For the sensitive and virtuoso performance Diana Brekalo received a big applause and standing ovations.

Milko Kelemen (Fotograf: Jasna Lovrincevic)

One of the greatest avant-garde composers in the world and the most famous Croatian composer, Milko Kelemen, celebrates his 91st birthday on the 30th of March 2015. On the occasion of his ninetieth birthday, numerous concerts were held in his honor. On the 19th of May 2015, the Croatian and German pianist star Diana Brekalo will organize a world premiere of the Sonata Oubliée of professor Milko Kelemen in cooperation with the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The concert will be held at St. Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square in central London, in a very acoustic church, well-known of its classical music events.

“Sonata Oubliée was created in 2012,” said professor Kelemen in the interview that I conducted with him in January 2015.

Milko Kelemen: “This is my last work. Sonata Oubliée or Forgotten Sonata is the title of a music work that sounds. Sonata has to sound and therefore this composition is a sonata, but not in the sense of the old sonata form, on the contrary it has a free-form.”

Milko Kelemen emphasized that it is his last work.
Milko Kelemen: “I started to compose when I was 11 years old. At that time I composed my first work. It was a composition – an imitation of Mozart. I have changed throughout life. Each composition represents another period of change.”

Diana Brekalo

Since the beginning of the twenty first century Milko Kelemen has already composed 19 works. Seven of them are orchestral and all of them have been publicly performed.
Diana Brekalo has the works of Milko Kelemen regularly on her repertory. In 1999, Brekalo already participated as a student in the international music festival called Days of Milko Kelemen in Slatina, the birth town of Kelemen. On the 17th Days of Milko Kelemen, in October 2011, Diana Brekalo, as a most famous pianist, held an evening concert with works by Johannes Brahms and Franz Liszt and three compositions by Milko Kelemen: Dessins Commentés (1964), Pillars Of The Sky (1986) and Sonata for piano (1954).

Diana Brekalo and Mae Heydorn

“It is a great honor to premiere Sonata Oubliée of Milko Kelemen and I am preparing myself with great pleasure for the concert at St. Martin-in-the-Fields,” said Diana Brekalo. This year she has already performed a concert in London, in cooperation with the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It was a charity concert, held on 22 January in Rosslyn Hill Chapel in London where she performed solo and with her international piano trio Solarek and mezzo-soprano Mae Heydorn. In April, Diana Brekalo will have a concert at the Beethovensaal in the Liederhalle in Stuttgart. In August she will have a China and Mongolia tour.
   

Dubrovački Trombonijeri (Fotograf: Lovinčević Jasna)

The Croatian summer festival with the longest tradition, The Dubrovnik Summer Festival, this year for the sixty-fifth times is opened traditionally on 10th of July with the grand opening ceremony in front of St Blaise’s Church: with raising the festival flag “Libertas”, with the “Hymn to Freedom”, final verses of the poem „Dubravka“ by Dubrovnik poet Gundulić, the ceremonial artists’ enter into the city and the fireworks at the end of the programme.

About two thousand artists from Croatia and the whole world participate in eighty , drama, music, ballet, folk and other programmes to nearly twenty different locations in town of Dubrovnik turning the whole city into a big stage. Flaming torches will also this year point out the venue of the festival’s programme to visitors of Dubrovnik Summer Festival.

Minčeta (Fotograf: Lovrinčević Jasna)

Exhibition in Sponza Palace

As part of the accompanying programme of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival in the Sponza Palace and the Multimedia Center Visia, until 19th of August, will be opened a retrospective exhibition entitled „ Memory Creators – Dubrovnik Summer Festival’s Photographers and Designers “, accompanied by a documentary film „Summer Festival“ from State Archive in Dubrovnik and Croatian Radio Television. There are 34 posters and 107 photographs exposed in Sponza Palace. The authors are renowned Croatian photographers and painters, who had by cameras recorded and by brush-pencile created glorious moments of Dubrovnik Festival since its establishment in the 1949.,

Diana Brekalo (Fotograf: Lovrinčević Jasna)

Drama And Music Program

Within the extensive drama programme this year will be performed the favorite performances of Uncle Maroje by Marin Držić, Equinox by Ivo Vojinović, and with Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet at the Castle of Skočibuha will be marked the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth. Besides Marin Držić and Ivo Vojinović, the authors of Dubrovnik, Shakespeare is the most frequent performed author in the history of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival.

This year’s music programme is marked by baroque, the style which adorns most of Dubrovnik famous buildings. The acoustics of the space surrounded by stone walls, harmony of music sound and beauty of architecture shapes, will provide for audience a unique artistic experience.

It is interesting that this year the Dubrovnik Summer Festival has began with the performance of the pianist Matej Meštrović, who is the extraordinary Croatian composer and director known as the promoter of Croatian monumental heritage at UNESCO, and the final piano concert will be played by piano star Diana Brekalo who promotes the Croatian composers.

Meštrović Matej

Matej Meštrović

Matej Meštrović with his Sudar Percussion Ensemble performed the first concert of the Dubrovnik Festval on 11th of July. He is the author of the music for the grand opening ceremony of the
Dubrovnik Summer Festival 2014 and for the last year opening too. He has received several awards in Croatia and abroad. His CD entitled „Sounds of Velebit“ reached the high level of distribution together with the magazine “National Geographic” . For his film Croatian Dream Matej Meštrović received the award for the best artistic film in all categories at the International Festival of Tourist Films Tourfilm 2005 in Poznan.

Diana Brekalo

The renowned Croatian and German pianist Diana Brekalo will perform Scarlattiana, Op. 44 by A. Casella as a soloist with the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra under the conductor of Nicola Giuliani, in the atrium of the Rector’s Palace on 23th of August. Pianist who regularly receives standing ovations for her concerts, extraordinary artist famous for her convincing interpretations , called the German Piano Princess, Diana Brekalo is known as a creator of bridges between the Croatian and Germany, the UK and other countries around the world. In her repertoire she has regularly the challenging works of Milko Kelemen, the Croatian and world composer. In London, in a series of concerts Diana Brekalo has also performed the works of other Croatian composers like Ivo Josipović and Mladen Tarbuk.