Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra

This orchestra was formed in Zagreb in the late 1800s from the national theatre’s opera ensemble which were put together by the composer and conductor Ivan Zajc in 1870. It started performing professionally in 1871 and becoming known as the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra from 1920 after its official founding following WWI. It often performs from the Vatroslav Lisinki Concert Hall in Zagreb.

It has since performed nationally and internationally in countries that include Argentina, China, Japan, Kuwait, Mexico, Oman, Russia and the USA, where it has performed at Carnegie Hall, as well as most European countries. For four years it held gala concerts in Salzburg in New Year’s morning and is also regularly heard at the Music Biennale Zagreb and the Dubrovnik Summer Festival.

Since its inception it has performed countless concerts under the leadership of some of the top chief conductors and guest conductors. Just a few of these include David Danzmayr, Valerie Gergiev, Milan Horvat, Jan Latham-Koenig, Pavel Kogan, Loren Maazel, Sir Neville Marriner, Kazushi Ono, Krzysztof Penderecki, Alexander Rahbari, Dawid Runtz, Kurt Sanderling, Sir Malcolm Sargent, Leopold Stokwoski and Igor Stravinsky along with numerous others.

It has performed and released many award winning recordings and in 2027 and 2018 it was presented with the City of Zagreb Award for his work in promoting music and culture.

Some of the guest soloists that have performed with the orchestra include Zvjezdana Basic, Montserrat Caballe, Yehudi Menuhin, Jurica Murai, Lucianno Pavarotti, Mstislav Rostropovich, Branko Sepcic and Radovan Vlatkovic as just some of many.

In the field of musical education the orchestra participates in the annual Youth Music Week project which involves several stage musical interactive projects and bringing the awareness of classical music to young people. It also presented its MINIMINI cycle in the 2019-20 season which made original productions of children’s literary works. It often works with student musicians from the Zagreb Academy of Music and outside of that holds its own Young Musician of the Year Award annual ceremony.

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Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra

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