Croatia will present itself during its Council of the EU chairmanship with a cultural programme developed by the Ministry of Culture in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs.
The cultural programmes aim to contextualize the Croatian culture, both heritage and contemporary, with the cultures of host countries. All were carefully selected to maximize the visibility of the Croatian arts and culture in Europe’s hubs.
Of the 100-odd cultural events that will be organized throughout the EU, we would like to highlight the following: a performance of the Croatian Glagolitic Requiem “Igor Kuljerić” in Munich by the Munich Radio Orchestra and conducted by Ivan Repušić, which will tie in the Croatian and German presidency; Croatia’s cultural and Glagolitic heritage will be showcased via the “Glagolitsa” exhibition as well as performances by Katarine Livljanić and the Dialogos Ensemble throughout Europe; Croatia’s traditional culture will be presented by the LADO National Folk Dance Ensemble at their concerts in Vienna, Bratislava, Prague, Pécs, Malta and Cyprus; in correlation with the Greek archaeological heritage, Croatia’s achievements in that field will be presented through an exhibition by the Zagreb Archaeological Museum in Athens; the “Zagreb-Budapest” exhibition at Budapest’s National Museum will juxtapose the achievements of Croatian and Hungarian artists; Croatia will be a guest country at the Montpellier Book Fair; Croatia’s achievements in contemporary art will be showcased by contemporary dance and movement ensembles BadCo and Defacto, as well as jazz musicians Elvis Stanić and Tamara Obrovac with their accompanying ensembles.
The best Croatian musical ensembles – the Zagreb Soloists and the Zagreb Quartet – will present to the EU public the height of classical musicianship in Croatia, while guest performances by the Croatian National Theatre in Brussels, Liege, Sofia, Modena, Budapest, Gdansk and Lisbon will display the best in theatrical achievements. A special six-month programme at Brussels’ BOZAR will launch with a gala concert by Max Emanuel Cenčić, Renata Pokupić, the “Antiphonus” Ensemble and the Croatian Baroque Ensemble, conducted by Belgium’s Peter Van Heyghen. An exhibition by Vjenceslav Richter, the “Tartuffe” play and the Retrospective of Croatian Film Classics will round off the presentation of Croatian culture.