Dubrovnik Summer Festival

Dubrovnik Summer Festival

The Dubrovnik Summer Festival is recognized as the major producer of top-quality events in Dubrovnik, as Croatia’s leading cultural institution, and as one of Europe’s five most distinguished cultural festivals.

The Festival will traditionally take place from 10 July to 25 August this year. During the 47 days of the Festival’s 76th edition, the audiences will have the opportunity to enjoy a carefully selected programme comprising the Festival’s own productions and top guest performances featuring some of the best Croatian and international artists. More than 70 theatre, music, folklore and other events, with participation of around 1,000 artists, will be held on over 20 site-specific locations in Dubrovnik. 

The programme

This year’s exceptionally rich and varied theatre program includes three big premieres, and performances of successful productions from previous seasons. The first premiere is a coproduction of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, the Marin Držić Theatre and the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb – Goldoni's cult Le Baruffe Chiozzotte in translation and adaptation of Morana Čale into the Dubrovnik dialect, which will be staged by director Krešimir Dolenčić at the new festival location. The second premiere title by Steven Stone and Herta Müller, Medea, directed by Martin Kušej, is a play co-produced by the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, the Croatian National Theatre in Varaždin and the Slovenian National Theatre Maribor, and will be premiered at the Lovrjenac Fortress. The third premiere title, The Seagull by A.P. Chekhov, focuses on unfulfilled dreams, longing for love and conflicts between generations. The work of the famous Russian writer is entrusted to the direction of the Polish director Janusz Kica, is set in the ambient of the island of Lokrum, and the characters will be embodied by the Festival Drama Ensemble.

This summer, festival blockbusters will be reprised. Goldoni's La Bottega del Caffè, directed by Paolo Tišljarić, returns to Držić's Square, last year's premiere blockbuster Vojnović's Equinox, directed by Krešimir Dolenčić in Posat Slipway, and Shakespeare's The Thempest, directed by Slovenian director Vito Taufer, returns to the island of Lokrum. This festival season will not be without everyone's favorite gossips from Kazerma, because Mara and Kata, an original project by Saša Božić and drama artists Nataša Dangubić and Doris Šarić Kukuljica, will feature as many as five performances. The youngest audience will have the opportunity to enjoy on the terrace of the Revelin Fortress the magical world of the play Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, one of the most famous fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm, directed by Ivana Čoh, and performed by the Trešnja Municipal Theatre. The Lero Student Theatre will present its play Dreams of Lost Years, directed by Davor Mojaš.

The Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, conducted by maestro Ivan Repušić, the Ivan Goran Kovačić choir, and soprano Darija Auguštan, mezzo-soprano Martina Mikelić, and tenor Mateo Ivan Rašić will open the musical part of the Festival program, with the 100th anniversary of the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra entitled Ode to Joy, in front of the Church of St. Blaise. For a magnificent end to the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, we can expect a grand Opera Gala concert of a selected repertoire of the best opera arias, featuring one of the most brilliant sopranos of today, Nino Machaidze, Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo, and world-renowned Croatian bass Marko Mimica, accompanied by the Croatian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sebastian Lang Lessing.

The backbone of the Festival's musical program this year is the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, which will continue its program in the atrium of the Rector's Palace with its first concert in front of the Church of St. Blaise. The second concert, entitled Seducers, Avengers, Heroines, will feature Dubravka Šeparović Mušović, and the conductor's baton will be taken up by conductor Valentin Egel. Under the direction of the charismatic conductor Gergely Madaras, the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra will share the festival stage in the Rector's Palace with Alina Pogostkin, a German violinist of Russian origin. As in the past, the musical program will be enriched by the best Croatian artists, some of whom will collaborate with foreign colleagues on the platform of the Festival or create new fresh collaborations. Thus, one of the best sopranos of today, Sonya Yoncheva, will return to the Festival from the largest international stages, with pianist and accompanist Malcolm Martineau performing with her. For the first time in Croatia, and at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Khatia Buniatishvili will perform her solo concert. This summer, The King's Singers will perform with a program called Angels and Demons, the Quinta Essentia Ensemble, and their performance at the Festival this year is Il Delirio Amoroso. The most distinguished Croatian chamber ensemble, the Zagreb Soloists, will perform at the Palace with virtuoso violinist Alexandra Conunova, followed by Trio Elogio and mezzo-soprano Ivana Srbljan, who will contribute to the musical program with the concert Las Locas por Amor. The Croatian pianist, Jan Niković, and the Croatian Baroque Ensemble will also contribute to the musical program, sharing the stage with the world-famous violinist Fabio Biondi, marking the 25th anniversary of the Croatian Baroque Ensemble. The Sitkovetsky Trio is a piano trio, and the program will be performed by violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky, cellist Isang Enders, and pianist Wu Qian. The donation concert, Youth for Youth, will conclude the musical program at the Palace. It will feature the best young Croatian musicians, tenor Filip Filipović and violinist Matej Mijalić, along with chamber ensembles from the Luka Sorkočević Art School.

With the aim of developing the audience, and modeled after the great world classical music festivals, the World Musica Cycle has been launched, which will offer unique cultural and artistic experiences. We can expect performances from the JM Jazz Orchestra and Luis Bonilla, the L'arpeggiata Ensemble and Christina Pluhar, Moroccan percussionist Rhani Krija and Cuban pianist Marialy Pacheco, and the Marcos da Silva Trío and The Vienna Berlin Music Club, better known as Philharmonix, will also find their place.

Ballet lovers will be attracted to the terrace of the Revelin Fortress by the Ballet of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb with a performance of Giselle by Adolph Adam and José Carlos Martínez, directed and choreographed by José Carlos Martínez, while the Linđo Folklore Ensemble will present the rich Croatian folk dance and music heritage in a series of four performances.

The 76th Dubrovnik Summer Festival’s arts programme includes these exciting exhibitions: the exhibition Toutes les Femmes by painter Dimitrije Popović, Margariti by painter Ivona Šimunović, Greetings to the City by academic painter Antonia Rusković, and the exhibition Women of Dubrovnik created in collaboration with the Dubrovnik Summer Festival and the Dubrovnik Museums.

The Vision

Relying on the City’s and its own rich and living heritage, the Festival promotes its site-specific program policy, combining tradition and modernity, and connecting local, national, and international creativity. This is a place where people gather together to exchange ideas and create new projects.

Drawing on the abundant and vibrant heritage of Dubrovnik and its own rich history, the Festival embodies a unique artistic postulate – a site-specific program policy. The Dubrovnik Summer Festival doesn’t use walls of the palaces and beautiful gardens of tis open air venues only as sets. In Dubrovnik, that space is decisive in creating a unique and unforgettable event. That is the reason why, during more than seven decades of existence, the Festival has catalogued as many as 130 various venues. That means almost the entire city and even the sea surrounding it are encompassed in the program, Dubrovnik citizens living not just parallel to but together with the Festival itself, which resulted in a unique bond between the City and the Festival. During the 47 days of the Festival,  new art forms and aesthetics that are reflected in fusion of and modernity tradition are highlighted, as well as blending local, national and international creativity, in turn making the Festival a true place of meeting, not just a cultural venue for its own sake.
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