CAF Orchestra delights Zagreb audience

The concert was staged within the Zagreb Classic festival, a summer cultural programme organised by the City of Zagreb and its Tourist Board.

The Orchestra, performed a 90-min programme under the baton of its conductor, Miroslav Vukovojac-Dugan, which met enthousiastic reception by thousands of Zagreb citizens and tourists, who praised the rendition loudly.

The Orchestra was joined by the Croatian Armed Forces Wind Orchestra, the “Kolo“ Choral Society of Šibenik and the soloists Helena Bastić (vocalist), Vjekoslav Babić (piano) and Vlatka Peljhan (violin). Their repertoire encompassed the piece „Stoljeća devet“ (“Nine centuries“), dedicated to Šibenik and the Queen Symphony by the British composer Tolga Kashif, featuring re-arranged Queen songs (The Bohemian Rhapsody; We Will Rock You, The Champions, Who Wants To Live Forever to name some).

“We held two concerts with a similar repertoire in Trogir and Šibenik, and tonight’s concert in Zagreb concludes the season.  The arrangements constitute the transition from rock into classical music enjoyable to listen to and to perform as well. We have been provided excellent technical conditions and production, which I think guarantee an impressive performance“, said conductor Vukovojac Dugan.   

The Symphonic Wind Orchestra of the Croatian Armed Forces is a representative Croatian orchestra, which has since its establishment in 1991 played extensively in Zagreb and throughout Croatia, and has performed successfully at international military orchestra festivals in Europe. The Orchestra is a recipient of a series of  awards for their performance, among whom the “Milka Trnina“ 1997 Award for artistic achievement and the “Vatroslav Lisinski“ 1998 Award for the performance of the pieces by the Croatian composers Alongside the first conductor Mladen Tarbuk, who led the Orchestra until 2000, and permanent guest-conductors Dragan Sremac and Tomislav Uhlik, it was led by a number of other renowned conductors (Uroš Lajovic, Miljenko Prohaska, Pavle Dešpalj, Nikša Bareza, Vjekoslav Šutej, Krešimir Šipuš, Walter Hilgers).