Cantus Ensemble performs for the EFA
Cantus Ensemble will perform its next concert on a Sunday (June 6th, at noon), rather than its usual Monday. The concert - titled Neo Cantus, and held at the Small Hall of the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall - will become a part of the events welcoming members of the EFA, the European Festival Association. We have written of this meeting before in these pages - the EFA leaders will be meeting regional EFA members in Zagreb, in order to encourage cooperation between the festivals of the region. Before the concert, the EFA will perform a ceremony honouring the election of Ivo Josipovic (former EFA delegate, for the MBZ) as president of Croatia. The president of the EFA, Darko Brlek, and its Secretary General, Kathrin Deventer, will speak at the ceremony, as well as the ISPA (International Society of Performing Arts) Chief Officer David Baile, Lado Folk Ensemble director Ivana Lušić, and European Parliament member Tanja Fajon.
Cantus will start the concert with the Theme and four variations, "Four Temperaments", by Paul Hindemith, with the renowned pianist Martina Filjak, who will be performing with the ensemble for the first time. After the break there will be a performance of Igor Stravinsky's Renard ("The Fox: burlesque tale sung and played"), its first theatrical performance in Croatia. The piece will be directed by Mario Kovač and sung by tenors Domagoj Dorotić and Stjepan Franetović, as bassos Marko Mimca and Goran Jurić. The concert will be conducted by Berislav Šipuš.
In this photo: Igor Stravinsky, in Zagreb, at the 1963 MBZ, during a rehearsal