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The Bersiad
ZAGREB GUITAR QUARTET
Tomislav Vasilj
Krunoslav Pehar
Melita Ivković
Frane Verbanac
Bersa, Ravel, Turina, Debussy, De Falla
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Encouraged by the Zadar Concert Office, Melita Ivković, a member of the Zagreb Guitar Quartet, adapted several piano compositions by the Croatian composer Blagoje Bersa for four guitars. The reason for that was the planning of the new Bersiad concert, a project that has existed within the Zadar Concert Season since 2013. This project had been motivated by the Bersa Project of the Croatian Institute of Music in Zagreb, which resulted in the publication of journals, literary titles, correspondence, pedagogical materials and thematic works list, as well as the complete soloist, chamber, choral, orchestral and dramatic oeuvre of one of the most important Croatian composers of the 20th century, bound in fourteen score volumes. In Bersa’s town, the Bersiad introduces and encourages performances and, from this year, adaptations of his works on all performing levels – from students’ performances, to teachers’ and professional performances. This year, one of the most important Croatian guitarist ensembles performs premieres of arrangements of Bersa’s piano works, as well as pieces by his European contemporaries, thus uniquely and curiously comparing the approaches of composers from various parts of Europe.