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.