With raising of the Libertas flag and followed by sounds of Hymns of Freedom, the 66th Dubrovnik Summer Festival has been officially opened. During the next 47 days, actors and art will rule Dubrovnik, like previous 65 years. Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic attended the opening of the games; it was a great celebration in the centre of the city.
The Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra opened this year’s games. The first part of the concert was focused on the opera repertoire, starting with a prelude to Rossini’s The Thieving Magpie. Domagoj Dorotic sang Andrea Chenier’s Come un bel di maggio dì… aria from Umberto Giordano’s opera of the same name, Enzo Grimaldo’s Cielo e mar… aria from Ponchielli’s opera La Gioconda, and with baritone Leon Kosavic. He also performed Part would nell’alma infondere, duet by Don Carlos and Pose from Verdi’s opera Don Carlos, where friends take an oath to an eternal friendship. The audience was able to enjoy Beethoven’s ‘conservative’ First Symphony in C major during the second part of the concert.
The festival’s often welcomed and gladly seen guests, Slovenian Philharmonics, are among a few symphony orchestras that enjoy such a rich and long tradition. Their chief conductor, Maestro Uros Lajovic, is one of the most successful conductors and conducting professors in this region of Europe. During his career he had had numerous performances at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, the last being over twenty years ago, more precisely in 1994.
