50TH ANNIVERSARY OF ZAGREB SOLOISTS

Zagreb Soloists 1954 – 2004 The ensemble Zagreb Soloists was founded in 1953 within the framework of Radio Zagreb, following the initiatives of Stjepan Aranjoš and Ivo Vuljević. They started their activity in 1954. Numbering 12, presently 13, outstanding soloists led by the world famous cellist Antonio Janigro, the ensemble soon achieved international acclaim and became one of the world’s top chamber orchestras. Since 1968, Zagreb Soloists have performed without a conductor for some time, with Dragutin Hrdjok as artistic director. For many years Tonko Ninić, the eminent violinist, functioned as their artistic director and orchestra leader. Anđelko Krpan occupied that post from 1996 until 2002 when Karlo Slobodan Fio took it over. Since autumn 2003 Tonko Ninić resumed the leadership of the orchestra. All the members of the orchestra graduated from the Zagreb Music Academy, and the connecting element is their virtuosity, superb technical training and the culture of shared playing, the only features that ensure supreme chamber interpretation. So far the Zagreb Soloists ensemble has appeared in more than 3100 concert performances on all the continents and in highly esteemed concert halls of all world music centres, like the Musikverein in Vienna, Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, Royal Festival Hall in London, the concert hall of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, Santa Cecilia in Rome, Salle Pleyel in Paris, Carnegie Hall in New York, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Teatro Real in Madrid, and others. Their interpretations encompass works of music from all stylistic periods, from the Baroque to contemporary music, and they have recorded more than 70 sound recordings. Zagreb Soloists performed together with some four hundred eminent artists, some of them being Henryk Szeriyng, Alfred Brendel, Christian Ferras, Pierre Fournier, Leonard Rose, James Galway, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Aldo Ciccolini, Radovan Vlatković, Ruža Pospiš-Baldani, Dunja Vejzović, Irena Grafenauer, Katia Ricciarelli, Igor Ojstrah, Valter Dešpalj, and others. Zagreb Soloists have been awarded numerous prizes and acknowledgements at home and abroad; among them are the 1st Prize in Mar del Plata (for recordings of 18th century concertos), the Pablo Casals Medal, the Vladimir Nazor Award, the City of Zagreb Award won twice, and the Porin prize (several times, the one in 1994 awarded for life-work). Zagreb Soloists have spread the reputation of Zagreb and Croatia all over the world. This can be proved by enthusiastic reviews, and for this occasion we have chosen a few characteristic quotations from them: "Interminably warm and musical... Impeccable intonation. Wonderful tone." (New York Times); "...Violinist school of perfect culture marks the virtuoso playing, every single/individual musician is formidable..." (Neue Tageszeitung, Vienna); "Zagreb Soloists offer «a different view of the world»." (The Whig-Standard, Ontario); "The wonderful violin sound of Zagreb Soloists of the Mozart Adagio and Fugue turned into pure beauty..." (Kärntner Krone, 1994); "…the strings group who play, think, act, breathe as one..." (New York Herald Tribune); "Twelve violinists with ease make use of a rich palette of dynamic nuances, from a pastoso resonance to filigree ethereal quality..." (Neue Züricher Zeitung).