Krešimir Starčević made his debut at the most prestigious Croatian festival – the Dubrovnik Summer Festival!
On August 7, 2024, he performed with violinist Marco Graziani
and cellist Latica Anić in the Rector’s Palace Atrium in Dubrovnik.
With their carefully designed program, the musicians marked the 150th
anniversary of the birth of Blagoje Bersa and Sergei Rachmaninov,
performing their piano trios. Bersa’s Piano Trio in Classical Style, Op. 7,
is his youthful work and is very rarely performed in Croatia, just like the
monumental 50-minutes long Rachmaninov’s 2nd Trio élégiaque in D minor, Op.
9, one of the most demanding and beautiful pearls of chamber music. Between
them, Rachmaninov’s one-movement 1st Trio élégiaque in G minor,
well-known to the audience, was performed.
Here is what the critics wrote about this concert:
“With an excellent performance that even the summer rain did not manage to distract for a long time, the musicians showed that they were up to the challenge, showing a high level of musicianship, exact phrasing and an expressive poetic approach to each section, no matter how demanding its passages were. The beauty of the sounds of all three instruments was first demonstrated by the extraordinary Blagoje Bersa’s Piano Trio in the classical style, Op. 7. Judging by the satisfied applause of the festival audience, this composition truly deserves more attention. They dedicated the second half of the program to Rachmaninov, first with a performance of the composition First Trio élégiaque in G minor. whose sound colors were subtly and enchantingly nuanced by the musicians last night. Last night’s performance of Rachmaninoff’s Second Trio élégiaque was deservedly rewarded by the audience’s standing ovation. Anić, Starčević and Graziani treated the crowd to a cheerful encore, Sergei Prokofiev’s March from his comic opera The Love for Three Oranges.”
