Members of The Croatian Baroque Ensemble

Laura Vadjon

Violin, artistic leadership

Laura Vadjon

Born in Zagreb, where she graduated and won a master's degree in violin from the Zagreb Academy of Music (prof. Fabris and Dešpalj). She has obtained numerous awards and plaudits (Head of Zagreb University award, Croatian Musical Institute award, Croatian Composer Society award, University Teachers' Society award, Stjepan Šulek Fund award, Porin, Milka Trnina etc.) She has paid particular attention during her further education to the so-called historically informed performance and has specialized in playing the baroque violin, working together with numerous artists and authority figures in this particular area of music performance (Mackintosh, Moonen, Stembridge, Erhardt, Egarr, Mitchell, Caudle, Niquet…).

She is the artistic leader and concertmaster of the Croatian Baroque Ensemble with which she has achieved great success in Croatia and abroad since 1999, performing numerous Croatian premieres of forgotten baroque composers on Croatian stages and nurturing the Croatian musical legacy. As a soloist she has played with almost all of Croatia's orchestras. She has performed at numerous festivals in Croatia and abroad and she also records music for Croatian Radio-Television HRT. She is an associate of the Croatian Radio's Sfumato cycle and the Little festival of harpsichord.

Her numerous performances with guitar player Romana Matanovac have been crowned with a CD recording LauROs and her first CD on which she plays the baroque violin called Cecchini & Co. has been recorded in association with the organ player Mario Penzar. From 1997 until 2002 she was a member of The Zagreb Soloists. For the CD recording of The Four Seasons on which she plays the solo part she won the Croatian discography award Porin in 2002 for best interpretation.

She has performed in 20 countries in Europe, as well as in Russia and Japan. She is an assistant professor at the Academy of Music in Zagreb, where she teaches chamber music of the 17th and 18th century, taking into account historically informed performance practice.

Saša Britvić

Conductor

Saša Britvić

Born in Zagreb in 1965. Upon completion of his conducting studies at the Music Academy in Zagreb, class of Igor Gjadrov, in 1987 he took over the artistic management at the Ivan Goran Kovačić Academy Choir, in which he was involved in for a full fourteen years.

He continued his training with Pierre Dervaux in France, and in between 1989 and 1990 worked with the Moscow State Philharmonic Orchestra on a scholarship from the Zagreb Concert Agency. Saša Britvić proved himself to be an inspired and talented interpreter of vocal and instrumental music over a wide range of styles from the Baroque to contemporary works, conducting ensembles including: the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, the Choir and Orchestra of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, the Croatian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Croatian Radio Choir, the Varazdin and Split Chamber orchestras, the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, the Croatian Army Symphonic Wind Orchestra, the Orchestra of Rijeka Opera, the Slovene Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra, the State Symphony Orchestra of St Petersburg, the M. I. Glinka Choir, the Emilia-Romagna Symphony Orchestra, the Province of Bari Symphony Orchestra, the Icarus Ensemble, the European Youth Orchestra, the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation Orchestra and the Alpe-Adria Orchestra.

He is one of the founders and conductors of the Cantus Ensemble of the Croatian Composers Association, which specializes in the performance of contemporary music, also including the Croatian Chamber Orchestra. A distinct chapter in his career consists of opera conducting, where he has worked with some of the biggest international names of today – Jose Carreras, Piero Capuccilli, Grace Bumbry, Ruza Pospiš-Baldani, Dunja Vejzović, Luigi Roni, Elena Obrastzova, Wilhelmenia Fernandez, and Katia Ricciareli, just to name a few.

Britvić won the Prize of the President of Zagreb University in 1987 as the best student in the Music Academy and also the prize of the Croatian Music Institute. At the international conducting competition in Saumur, he won first prize, thus becoming a laureate of the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation. From 1994 he has worked as lecturer, and from 1996 as assistant professor at the Music Academy in Zagreb. In 1999, together with Mario Penzar, he founded the Croatian Baroque Ensemble, today, which he is director of. Since 2000 he has been a member of the Board of Management of the Lovro and Lilly Matačić Foundation. Since 2002 he has been director of the International Culture Centre for Young Musicians in Grožnjan, and manager of the Opera Studio in the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb. Since 2003 he has been the director of the Zagreb Concert Management and since 2005 he has been a full member of the Braća Hrvatskog Zmaja association.

Violins

  • Laura Vadjon, concert master
  • Viktorija Gubo
  • Bojan Čičić
  • Silvio Richter
  • Tanja Tortić
  • Ivana Žvan
  • Vinka Fabris
  • Lada Magdalenić Morpurgo
  • Saša Reba
  • Dunja Kobas
  • Mislav Pavlin

Violas

  • Vlatka Peljhan
  • Asja Frank
  • Petar Haluza

Violoncellos

  • Branimir Pustički
  • Nika Zlatarić
  • Tomo Rožman

Double bass

  • Helena Babić

Harpsichord

  • Pavao Mašić
  • Krešimir Has

Teorbo & Baroque guitar

  • Igor Davidovics

Flutes

  • Ana Benić
  • Marta Šomođi
  • Renata Penezić

Oboes

  • Zoltan Hornyanszky
  • Petra Labazan

Basoon

  • Istvan Matay

Trumpets

  • Krešimir Fabijanić
  • Vedran Kocelj
  • Zvonimir Lazar

Horns

  • Bank Harkay
  • Bruno Grošić

Timpani

  • Borna Šercar

Event calendar

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