Introspection

Zlatko Tanodi

Zlatko Tanodi graduated in composition in the class of Milo Cipra (1978). From 1981 to 1993 he worked as a music editor-producer of Music Production of Radio Television Zagreb. He is a tenured Full Professor at the Zagreb Academy of Music where he teaches applied and electronic composition. He recorded performances as synthesizer soloist in London, Los Angeles, Paris, Baden-Baden, and other cities, and has performed with numerous orchestras (Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, Croatian Radiotelevision Symphony Orchestra, Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra, Eurosong Festival Orchestra etc.). His composing interests are diverse, ranging from orchestral to chamber music, from pop and jazz to avant-garde. Most of his opus was recorded or stored at the Croatian Radiotelevision recording archive while some of his records were released abroad (Journeys to Other Worlds – United States, Ambienta Croatica – Germany). DVD-Audio Recombinant Art 01 – Canada also contains two of Tanodi’s compositions recorded in surround sound: Anima-Animus and mo-RE. His latest original record of electronic music entitled Electronica was released by Cantus Ltd. in 2011. Some of his most significant works include the musical Black Queen (1994), Air (Music Biennale Zagreb – MBZ 1997 and XIII CIM – Italy, 2000), Margins (Croatian Radiotelevision Symphony and Jazz Orchestra, 2000), Anima-Animus (MBZ 2001, International Rostrum of Electroacoustic Music – Copenhagen 2002), Piano Etudes (8th International Competition Etudes and Scales, 2002), Requiem (MBZ 2007, Luenberg – Germany 2007).

Frano Đurović

Frano Đurović graduated in composition from the Zagreb Academy of Music in the class of Frano Parać. Apart from orchestral and chamber compositions, he authored numerous electronic and electroacoustic works, installations, multimedia projects, theater, and television music. He was the winner of the University of Zagreb Rector’s Award for the Wind Quintet (2000), the award for the Internationale Sommerakademie Reichenau – Meisterkurs für Komposition in Austria for the Eine kleine Pivotmusik (2002), Josip Štolcer Slavenski Award issued by Vjesnik Daily for his work Delta (2005), the award of the Foundation Stjepan Šulek for the same piece (2006), and the Slavenski Award for his Symphony (2017). He was the winner of the MBZ Web Competition (2010), and won the Marul Award for his stage music (2013), the Passion Heritage Award for the Stala plačuć tužna mati, concerto for bassoon and strings (2017). In 2004 he started teaching as Assistant at the Zagreb Academy of Music, became tenured in 2007, and Associate Professor since 2012. He is a regular member of the Croatian Composers’ Society and a member of its Presidency. From 2010 to 2013 he was Artistic Director of the Opatija Music Forum, from 2012 to 2016 artistic advisor of the Music Biennale Zagreb. In 2014 he became a member and since 2018 President on the Board of Directors of the Porin Music Award.

Vjekoslav Nježić

Vjekoslav Nježić (Brežice, Slovenia, 1973) graduated in composition from the Music Academy in Zagreb in 1999. He finished his masters in Composition and Music Technology in 2005 at the Faculty of Arts, Media and Technology in Hilversum, Netherlands. From 1997 to 1999 he was a fellow of the City of Zagreb and for the academic year 2003/04 he won the HUYGENS scholarship awarded by Nuffic, the Dutch organization for internationalization in higher education. He attended seminars in Semmering (1996), Radziejowice (1997), and Darmstadt (1998), as well as the choral music seminar in Luxembourg (1997) and electronic music seminars in Szombathely (1999) and Grožnjan (2000). He taught from 2001 to 2005 at the University of Osijek and has been teaching at the Music Academy in Zagreb since 2000, where he is currently Full Professor at the Department of Composition and Music Theory. He worked as the editor of the edition Ars Croatica of the Croatian Composers’ Society (2002-2003) and as a music producer. He is the author of more than 40 works of orchestral, chamber, vocal, electronic, stage, and film music.

Krešimir Seletković

Krešimir Seletković (Slavonski Brod, 1974) graduated in composition from the Zagreb Academy of Music in the class of prof. Davorin Kempf. He attended summer courses in Austria, Poland, Germany, Hungary, and Croatia. He is Full Professor at the Zagreb Academy of Music and since 2013 he has been Vice Dean for Education. From 2003 to 2012 he was editor of the edition Ars Croatica of the Croatian Composers’ Society, and from 2012 to 2018 he was Artistic Director of the Music Biennale Zagreb. He was the winner of the Rector’s Award of the University of Zagreb, Boris Papandopulo Award of the Croatian Composers’ Society, Best Music in a Children’s Play Award at the 19th Meeting of Puppeteers and Puppet Theaters in Osijek, Stjepan Šulek Award, and Josip Štolcer Slavenski Award. The ballet Air premiered at the 26th Music Biennale in Zagreb, for which he composed the music, and which was recognized as the best overall ballet performance in 2011 (Croatian Actor Award). He was also the winner of multiple Porin Awards.

Srebrenka Poljak

Srebrenka Poljak graduated and received her Masters in piano in the class of Zvjezdana Bašić at the Zagreb Academy of Music. She is a distinguished chamber musician and collaborates regularly with various Croatian and foreign artists. As a member of the Zagreb Piano Trio she received several awards and distinctions (1st prize at the International Chamber Music Competition in Trondheim, Norway; 2nd prize and award for Best Piano Trio in Heerlen, Netherlands; Darko Lukić and Ivo Vuljević awards). She performs both as a soloist and orchestral musician with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, Croatian Radiotelevision Symphony Orchestra and Choir, Croatian Armed Forces Symphony Orchestra, Croatian Chamber Orchestra, Varaždin Chamber Orchestra, Zadar Chamber Orchestra, and Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. As a solo artist and member of the Cantus Ensemble, she played and recorded works by contemporary composers, many of which were premieres. At the Zagreb Academy of Music, she worked as an Artistic Advisor at the Strings and Guitar Department, where she also taught a course for students in Piano Accompaniment, and in 2017 she was tenured and began teaching Piano Practice at the Department of Piano, Harpsichord, and Organ.

Katarina Krpan

Katarina Krpan (Zagreb, 1972) graduated in 1992. She holds two master degrees: one from the Conservatoire de Musique in Lausanne, and another from Zagreb Academy of Music, University of Zagreb. She performed extensively throughout the world, from North to South America, to Africa, Australia, and chroniclers emphasized her profound sense for tone color and pedaling, sense of form, and her ability to subtly communicate with the audience. When it comes to her choice of repertoire, she is prone to accepting challenges of the new, the complex – in the intellectual sense and in terms of performance. Today she engages the most challenging pages of pianist literature, such as integral performances of prominent difficult etudes of György Ligeti or the one-hour cycle entitled Kate’s Kiss, dedicated to her by Croatian composer Mladen Tarbuk. Her extensive recording archive contains numerous studio recordings and several albums made for Croatian and international record labels. Her artistic interest in 20th-century music is especially pronounced, along with her attention to detail and dedication especially to Croatian musical creation. Her conviction in the necessity of promoting national musical production is something she endows her students with, such as in 2010 when she founded the HR Project that brought together students of music high schools and students of music academies from different departments with the aim of working on compositions by Croatian authors. The project assumed the significance of a movement. The HR Project was awarded with the Plaque of the City of Zagreb. The various awards she received thus far acknowledge the value of her activities. Beside the aforementioned ones, she was the winner of the Vatroslav Lisinski Prize of Croatian Composers’ Society (2013), Milka Trnina Award of the Croatian Association of Musicians (2013), and the Neven Prize of St Mark Festival (2014). She is Full Professor at the Zagreb Academy of Music, University of Zagreb, and Head of Postgraduate Studies Council at the University of Zagreb Academy of Music. For a number of years, she served as a Visiting Professor at the Steinway Academy in Verona (Italy).

Danijel Detoni

Danijel Detoni began his music education in Zagreb in the class of Olga Detiček at the Vatroslav Lisinski Music High School and continued in the classes of László Baranyay and Balázs Kecskés at Liszt Ferenc Music University in Budapest and Itamar Golan at the Paris Conservatory. He also honed his skills by working with renowned artists such as Pnina Salzman, Emanuel Krasovsky, Hamsa al-Wadi, Felix Gottlieb, Pál Éder, and Dénes Várjon. As a soloist and chamber musician, he held guest performances at prestigious festivals such as the Warsaw Autumn, Music Biennale Zagreb, Musica Danubiana Festival in Ljubljana, Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Osor Musical Evenings, Julian Rachlin & Friends Festival, Transeuropéennes in Rouen, Schleswig-Holstein in Hamburg, ReMusica in Priština, Carniarmonie in Udine, and Trieste Prima in Trieste. He collaborated with artists such as Katarina Livljanić, Radovan Vlatković, Ivana Lazar, Kajana Pačko, Boris Brovtsyn, Itamar Golan, Gábor Boldoczki, Krešimir Stražanac, Irvin Venyš, Boris Andrianov, David Aaron Carpenter, Enrico Dindo, and ensembles such as the Zagreb Saxophone Quartet, Budapest Strings, Chamber Orchestra UMZE, Chamber Orchestra Dušan Skovran etc. Even in his earliest days, he was a passionate chamber musician: in April 2003, in a duo with the violinist Márta Deák he won the Leó Weiner State Competition in Budapest. In August 2006 he won the award of the Israeli Foundation Isman for exceptional interpretation of Ligeti’s music. Jeunesses Musicales Croatia declared him the best young musician in 2008. The same year he released a solo album with selected works by Dubravko Detoni under the label of Croatia Records. The same label also released his record Journey through Europe and in 2018 the Belgian label Le Chant de Linos released a record of his cooperation with cellist Kajana Pačko. Since 2009 he has been teaching piano and since 2015 he has taught piano and chamber music at the Music Academy of the University of Zagreb.

Filip Fak

Filip Fak (Rijeka, 1983) began his musical education in his hometown and graduated in piano in 2005 at the Zagreb Academy of Music in the class of Đorđe Stanetti. He continued his studies at Schola Cantorum in Paris in the class of Eugen Indjic. He performed as soloist and chamber musician at almost all major Croatian cultural centers and in a dozen European countries, as well as in the United States, Mexico, and China. He performed in concerts with the most prestigious Croatian orchestras and ensembles (Zagreb Philharmonic, Croatian Radiotelevision Symphony Orchestra, Zagreb Soloists, Cantus Ensemble) under the leadership of conductors such as Klaus Arp, Pavle Dešpalj, Alun Francis, Aleksandar Marković, Adriano Martinolli, Luca Pfaff, Ville Matvejeff, Aleksandar Kalajdžić, and others. He attended festivals such as Music Biennale Zagreb, Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Osor Musical Evenings, Musical Evenings in St Donat, St Mark Festival, Zajc Days, Diapason Festival etc. He co-founded the Rijeka Piano Trio, which held a successful China tour, and began its concert season in Rijeka in 2018. As artistic associate he participated in numerous concerts and stage productions, master classes, and relevant competitions. In 2017 he became the first principal pianist of the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra. He pays special attention in his repertoire to the performing contemporary authors. He was the winner of Darko Lukić Award, City of Samobor Award, the first and the special prize at the Ivan Zajc Competition, Grand Prix Lions Club, the special EPTA prize, and a series of first prizes at national competitions. He won scholarships of the international foundations Vladimir Spivakov from Moscow and the Gold Country Piano Institute from Nevada City (USA), and was also a longtime fellow of the City of Rijeka. He also has experience in composing. In 2009, he became Artistic Associate at the Department of Singing in Rijeka (local department of Zagreb Academy of Music), and later Assistant at the Department for Piano. He has been teaching at the Zagreb Academy of Music since 2014, where he has been appointed tenure in 2018.