Sunday, 4 December
Kolarac Hall at 8 PM
ZAGREB SOLOISTS
Artistic leader and soloist
SRETEN KRSTIĆ, violin
Renowned chamber orchestra at the Kolarac Hall, after more than 25 years.
Programme
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Divertimento in D major, К. 136/125a (1772)
Allegro
Andante
Presto
Krsto Odak (1888-1965)
Passacaglia for Strings in G minor, Op. 35 (1938)
Vera Milanković (1953)
Slavonic Rhapsody, for Violin and Strings (2015)
Boris Papandopulo (1906-1991)
Pintarichiana, Suite for Strings (1974) – Dedicated to the Zagreb Soloists
Sonatina: Allegro con spirito
Pastorella: Andante cantabile
Rondo: Allegretto
Dudaš (Cornemuse): Allegro vivace
Intermission
Petar Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Serenade in C major, Op. 48 (1880)
Pezzo in forma di sonatina: Andante non troppo — Allegro moderato
Valse: Moderato — Tempo di valse
Élégie: Larghetto elegiaco
Finale (Tema russo): Andante — Allegro con spirito
Born in 1953 in Belgrade, Sreten Krstić began to play the violin at the age of seven.Later, he studied with Toškov and Pavlović at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade. Since 1982, Krstić has been the principal concertmaster of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, with the great Sergiu Chelibidache as the orchestra’s chief-conductor. As a soloist, Krstić performed with famous conductors such as Sergiu Celibidache, Zubin Mehta, James Levine, Hiroshi Wakasugi, Horst Stein, Vaclav Neumann, Dmitrij Kitajenko. Soloist concerts take him to nearly all of the European countries, as well as to Japan, USA and the ex-USSR. Krstić has made recordings for all the radio and TV-stations in ex-Yugoslavia, Bavarian Radio, West-German Radio, BBC and Greek Radio. Also, for companies such as Thorofon and Arte Nova Classics, amongst others, he has recorded a number of CDs, some as a soloist and others in chamber music.
Sreten Krstić founded the strings trio Gasteig-Trio München in 1985, and has been its member ever since. Since 1996, his work in chamber music intensified – he founded the strings sextet of the Munich Philharmonic (Philharmonische Streichsextett), and, in 1999, the Philharmonische Solisten. In the latter orchestra, Krstić is not only a member but the artistic leader as well. He has also been a member of the Gelius Piano Trio since 1999.
In 2012 Krstić joined the renowned chamber orchestra Zagreb Soloist as their concertmaster and soloist. Together with the ensemble he recorded the CD with works by Boris Papandopulo for CPO, Germany (2014) which won them flattering reviews. The CD was promoted on a concert tour in Germany in April 2015.
He plays a violin from 1760 built by Nicolò Gagliano.
Founded in 1953, as an ensemble of Radio Zagreb, under the artistic leadership of the renowned cellist Antonio Janigro, Zagreb Soloists have gained recognition as one of the world’s most outstanding chamber orchestras. Over the decades, they have kept their excellence in playing music, performing regularly at prestigious international concert stages.
Since 2012 the ensemble performs with the famous violinist Sreten Krstić as their concertmaster and who is also the concertmaster of the Munich Philharmonic.
Zagreb Soloists gave over 3500 concerts on all continents, in the major centers and most famous concert halls such as the Musikverein (Vienna), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Royal Festival Hall (London), Berlin Philharmonic Hall, Tchaikowski Hall (Moscow), Santa Cecilia (Rome), Carnegie Hall (New York), Opera House (Sydney), Victoria Hall (Geneva), Teatro Real (Madrid), Teatro Colon (Buenos Aires), etc. They have regularly performed at the major music festivals such as those in Salzburg, Prague, Edinburgh, Berlin, Bergen, Barcelona, Istanbul, Prades Ossiach, Dubrovnik and elsewhere, playing with numerous distinguished soloists, for example – Henryk Szeryng, Alfred Brendel, Christian Ferras, Pierre Fournier, Leonard Rose, James Galway, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Aldo Ciccolini, Katia Ricciarelli, Lily Laskin, Zuzana Růžičková, Mario Brunello, Isabelle Moretti, Guy Touvron and many others. Zagreb Soloists’ performing repertoire entails baroque, classicist, romantic and contemporary music, with particular attention given to Croatian composers – both of those who represent the musical heritage and those of the younger generation.
They recorded more than seventy albums for companies like Vanguard House, EMI, ASV, Eurodisc, Melodia, HISP-vox, Pickwick and Croatia Records. One of the most recent outstanding editions is the album with works by Ernesto Cordero, which Zagreb Soloists recorded with prominent soloists – violinist Guillermo Figueroa and guitarist Pepe Romero (Naxos 2010), which was nominated for a Latin Grammy Award. In June 2014 the ensemble has also released a compact disc with works by Boris Papandopulo, performing with pianist Oliver Triendl – the project which united both local and international music criticism – giving the CD highest rates and numerous commendations.
Over the decades Zagreb Soloists have received a number of awards and accolades. What unites all its members – those of the past, the present and the future – is the staggering musicians’ discipline and skill, paired with inexhaustible enthusiasm and love for chamber music-making.
