The winner of the Call for Scores for the “New ballet music on the theme of Broken Relationships" has been announced

Music Biennale Zagreb (MBZ) will open its 33rd edition with three new ballets in April 2025 at the Croatian National Theatre, one of which will be composed by the winner of this competition.

MBZ and the Croatian Composers' Society thus announced, at the end of last year, an international composer competition inviting composers to write music for a new ballet piece for a chamber ensemble (including electronics) inspired by the festival's theme -  Broken Relationships.

The members of the jury Sara Glojnarić (composer), Massimiliano Volpini (director of the HNK Ballet) and the artistic directors of the MBZ Tomislav Oliver, Ivan Josip Skender and Davor Vincze unanimously chose the Polish composer Rafał Ryterski as the winner of the competition.  

"After a thorough examination of 225 submitted applications, Rafał Ryterski's music convinced us with the power of immediacy, the skillful use of multimedia, the freshness of expression and the unmistakable artistic voice we were looking for in this competition. The very proposal for the new work "Willy Elliot” stood out with the provocativeness that we expect from the work, which will open the upcoming festival. The selection was by no means easy, but we are pleased to have discovered a considerable number of great, mostly young composers through the competition, whom we will continue to follow and with whom we are interested in collaborating on future MBZ projects. We thank everyone who entered the competition and congratulate Rafał Ryterski once again," said the members of the jury in a joint statement following the selection of the winner.