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Tango in Sesvete

Krešimir Starčević joined violist Jasna Simonović Mrčela and cellist Smiljan Mrčela in their new tango project, which they successfully presented for the first time in Sesvete under the tittle “Tango in Sesvete!”, on March 16, 2023!

In different combinations of their instruments, the musicians presented some of Astor Piazzolla’s most famous works (Le Grand Tango, Libertango, Oblivion, Otoño Porteño, La Calle 92) as well as shorter compositions composed by I. Albéniz, E. Nazareth, G. M. Rodriguez, A. G. Villoldo, C. Gardel, J. Cohen, L. McKennitt, I. Božičević.

Young talented cellist Dora Kuleš performed as a guest of the concert.

https://ns-sesvete.hr/odrzan-je-sjajni-koncert-tango-u-sesvetama/

Dubravko Detoni’s 85th birthday concert

One of the greatest living Croatian composers, Dubravo Detoni, celebrated his 85th birthday. On this occasion, Krešimir Starčević created a concert of his piano and chamber music and gathered his friends – violinist Marco Graziani, clarinetist Bruno Philipp and trumpet player Vedran Kocelj. They performed the concert Detonijada at the in Zagreb’s Culture Center on Peščenica (KNAP), on November 26, 2022, at the end of the Music – Mission – Vision festival.

The program included compositions created during the 60-year period of Detoni’s composing career: from an early student work Two Choral Preludes for piano from 1963, to a diptych from 1983 consisting of 11 per 1 in 1 for clarinet and 22 per 2 in 2 for violin and piano, piano suite 9 Scenes from Daniel’s Dream from 1986, Fanfaronitis for trumpet and piano (which was premiered by Kocelj and Starčević in Senj in 2013) and up to Les bravoures nostalgiques for clarinet from 2018.

The concert was attended by the composer Dubravko Detoni himself, who addressed the audience on several occasions and told some of the anecdotes related to the creation of certain works.

In the review of the concert published on the portal glazba.hr, Borko Špoljarić wrote, among other things:

“When I come back again, they will be my new Acezantez”, was the statement of the laureate of the evening, composer and writer Dubravko Detoni (Križevci, 1937), addressed to the musicians and the audience at the final bow of his author’s concert, held on November 26 as part of the Music – Mission – Vision Festival in Zagreb’s KNAP Centre. He was, of course, referring to his famous ensemble with which he started writing the history of contemporary, experimental and improvisational music in Croatia in 1970.

He said “when I come back”, eliciting approval from the entire hall, although the fact is that Detoni hasn’t even gone anywhere yet. Nor does he intend to.

The program provided a kind of optional retrospective or at least a walk through some – partly well-known, partly early or, on the other hand, more recent and less well-known – stages of Detoni’s oeuvre; skilfully tailored for a “powerful crowd” of only four musicians – pianist Krešimir Starčević, violinist Marco Graziani, clarinetist Bruna Philipp and trumpeter Vedran Kocelj, with many moments of first-class playing, which presented many aspects of Detoni’s composition.

You can read the entire review in Croatian:
https://glazba.hr/citaj/izvjestaj/maestro-detoni-nastavite-setati/

Photos: Hana Pučak

Concerts with Lovro Merčep in Daruvar & Vrbovsko

Saxophonist Lovro Merčep is the first musician with whom Krešimir Starčević formed a duo. It was during their student days at the Academy of Music in Zagreb, in 2008. Since then, they have been performing regularly, performing an extensive repertoire composed of original works for saxophone and piano, as well as a wide variety of arrangements.

Their concert program in Daruvar (November 23, 2022) and Vrbovsko (November 24, 2022) was composed of some of the most famous works of saxophone literature: the first sonata for saxophone and piano in the history of music – Erwin Schulhoff’s Hot-Sonata (from 1930) , Fantaisie-impromptu by André Jolivet, Sonata op. 29 by Robert Muczynski and the Scaramouche suite by Darius Milhaud.

The musicians also marked two important birthdays of prominent Croatian composers, performing their works – the 85th birthday of Dubravko Detoni and the 40th birthday of Gordan Tudor.

Concert in Czech Republic with Antonija Jurin Starčević

Flutist Antonija Jurin Starčević and Krešimir Starčević gave a recital in the Czech town of Borovany. On November 12, 2022, in the Malovaný hall of Borovany Castle (Klášter Borovany), they performed a recital composed of compositions from the Romantic period: Saint-Saëns’ Romance, Fauré’s Fantasisie, Schumann’s Three Romances (in Rampal’s arrangement) and Dobrzyński’s Andante e Rondo alla polacca.

The diversity and richness of the 20th and 21st centuries were represented by the works of Croatian composers, which are often on the concert programs of Antonija and Krešimir and which they are very happy to promote – Krsto Odak’s Sonata and Dubravko Detoni’s piano compositions. Special attention was attracted by the first performance of the composition “Music for Antonija” by Adalbert Marković. It is forgotten work from 2003 that the musicians discovered and thanks to the composer’s grandson got the score and decided to play it. It is not known which Antonija the composition was written for, but it is a nice coincidence that it was just premiered by another Antonija.

Info:

https://czk-novi-zagreb.hr/koncerti/festival-ema-destinova-kresimir-starcevic-klavir-i-antonija-jurin-starcevic-flauta/

Schumann’s Fairy Tales at Lisinski Hall

Krešimir Starčević created the program Schumann’s Fairy Tales with the idea of gathering and presenting in one place the compositions that Robert Schumann composed in one of his most creative periods from 1849 to 1953. He presented this project on November 6, 2022, in the Vatroslav Lisinski Small Concert Hall as part of the Musical Paths cycle.

He was joined on the concert stage by violist Jasna Simonović Mrčela, cellist Smiljan Mrčela, oboist Dario Golčić, clarinetist Bruno Philipp and trumpet player Vedran Kocelj.

Program consisted of four works that Schumann wrote in 1849 (Adagio & allegro op. 70; Fantasiestücke op. 73; 3 Romances op. 94; 5 Stücke im Volkston, op. 102), one in 1851 (Märchenbilder, op. 113) and one in 1853 (Märchenerzählungen).

In the review of the concert published on the portal klasika.hr, Snježana Miklaušić-Ćeran wrote:

Several string and wind soloists performed at the concert, accompanied by pianist Krešimir Starčević’s reliable, technically perfectly developed and dynamically adapted piano accompaniment for the soloists.

The excellent preparation of Krešimir Starčević shone again in the musical performance with the other two musicians…

You can read the entire review in Croatian:
https://www.klasika.hr/index.php?p=article&id=3089

Photos: Ivica Mihalić

Musica Croatica with Vedran Kocelj

The repertoire of compositions originally written for trumpet and piano is not often heard on concert stages, at least in Croatia. Therefore, Vedran Kocelj, solo trumpet player of the Croatian Radiotelevision Symphony Orchestra, and Krešimir Starčević joined forces decade ago in order to present to the audience as extensive a repertoire as possible, but also to expand and enrich the treasury of music by Croatian composers.

They presented their new concert program “Musica Croatica” to the audience at the Jan Vlašimski School of Music in Virovitica on October 18, 2022. Program started with Stjepan Šulek’s Sonata “After the Sunset” and continued with the extensive 20-minute work “Fanfaronitis” by Dubravko Detoni, which Vedran and Krešimir premiered in Senj in 2014. An additional reason for the performance was Detoni’s 85th birthday, so after Fanfaronitis, Krešimir also performed some of Detoni’s compositions for piano solo. “Seven Trumpets” for trumpet solo by Srdjan Dedić followed, and the program concluded with “Musica per tromba” by Bruno Bjelinski. By performing this work in the composer’s version for trumpet and piano, the musicians remembered the 30th anniversary of Bjelinski’s death.

Concert in Athens with Marco Graziani

Violinist Marco Graziani and Krešimir Starčević played a successful recital in the hall of the Athens Conservatory in Athens (Greece), on September 21, 2022. An additional occasion for the concert was the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Croatia and Greece (Hellenic Republic). For this occasion, the musicians have created a special program “Anthology of Croatian Music for Violin and Piano”.

The concert opened with two miniatures of the 19th-century violinist and composer Franjo Krežma, who was the concertmaster of the Bilse orchestra from which the Berlin Philharmonic would emerge. The program continued with the First Sonata for Violin and Piano by Dora Pejačević, a composer who is increasingly present on concert stages around the world, as well as on CDs of major labels. This was followed by the elegy Povero Tonin by Blagoje Bersa, and the composition “22 per 2 in 2” by Dubravko Detoni, with which the musicians celebrated the 85th birthday of that renowned composer. The program concluded with Boris Papandopoulos’ Meditation and Drmeš.

The welcoming speech was given by the ambassador of the Republic of Croatia in Greece, Mr. Aleksandar Sunko, and the concert was attended by ambassadors of numerous countries as well as Croats living in Athens. Many of them expressed their enthusiasm for composers and works that were completely unknown to them until now.

Concert in Pula with Latica Anić

Cellist Latica Anić and Krešimir Starčević started their collaboration with a chamber music concert in Dubrovnik in 2015. Since then, Krešimir has been Latica’s regular chamber partner, with whom she played at two competitions where she was awarded – the Ferdo Livadić Competition in Samobor and the Darko Lukić Cycle in Zagreb.

Latica and Krešimir presented to the audience in Pula a selection of compositions by Robert Schumann (Fünf Stücke im Volkston, Op. 102) , Leoš Janaček (Pohadka), Boris Papanadopoulos (Rapsodia Concertante) and Sergei Prokofiev (Sonata Op. 119). It’s interesting that for the performance of Papandopulo’s composition Latica won an award at a competition in Samobor.

The concert was held on September 14, 2022 in the beautiful church of St. Francis in Pula, with inspiring acoustic and architecture.