glazbena tribina
“A Tool Facilitating Mutual Acquaintance —a Comprehensive Overview of Creation”
“A Tool Facilitating Mutual Acquaintance —a Comprehensive Overview of Creation”
(composer Branimir Sakač, one of the founders of the festival)
The beginnings of the Glazbena Tribina, a music panel organized by the Croatian Composers’ Society, date back to 1963 and the first Tribina of the Yugoslav Musical Creativity that took place in Opatija. The original format of the festival, which remained unchanged until 1990, was a significant musical event in former Yugoslavia. It served as a meeting point for composers, musicologists, and music theorists on one side, and soloists, ensembles, and orchestras on the other side, at which the latest artistic accomplishments from all the republics and provinces of former Yugoslavia were presented and discussed. While the festival’s focus was always on the participants rather than on the audience, it also had a strong media presence. Over the past four and a half decades, the festival has hosted numerous premieres and iconic performances, noteworthy discussions and declarations, polemical clashes and reconciliations, but most importantly, an abundance of excellent music.
In the early 1990s, the Tribina sought a new concept and developed it through a series of regional collaborations, including Podunavska Nit (Danube Thread), Mediteranska (Mediterranean), Alpsko-Jadranska (Alpine-Adriatic), and others. Over the past decade, the Tribina has featured not just Croatian composers and their works but also composers and ensembles from Hungary, Slovenia, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria, Portugal, Spain, and other countries as a result of these initiatives.
The Tribina relocated from Opatija to Pula in 1999, a move that the city and its inhabitants embraced wholeheartedly. The festival events took place at stunning concert venues, such as the Istrian National Theatre, the Croatian Veterans’ Home, the Italian Community Hall Circolo, and the Church of St. Francis. In addition to the professional audience and musicians who came to the festival from all corners of Croatia and abroad, local residents with an interest in different types of music also attended most of the concerts.
Starting in 2005, the Tribina stopped being an international forum, as it had since the early 1990s, and once again became a showcase for national creativity, occasionally featuring works by foreign composers from the 20th or 21st century that were mostly performed by national artists. The festival presents not only contemporary music concerts, but also features contemporary works from other genres, such as performances by accordion or tamburica orchestras, jazz ensembles, chanson singers, and ensembles that blend artistic and popular music.
The Tribina returned to its original birthplace of Opatija in 2010, but in 2021, it moved to Osijek, a city where it received a warm welcome. Osijek also witnessed the proud celebration of the Tribina’s 60th anniversary in 2023!
The Tribina relocated from Opatija to Pula in 1999, a move that the city and its inhabitants embraced wholeheartedly. The festival events took place at stunning concert venues, such as the Istrian National Theatre, the Croatian Veterans’ Home, the Italian Community Hall Circolo, and the Church of St. Francis. In addition to the professional audience and musicians who came to the festival from all corners of Croatia and abroad, local residents with an interest in different types of music also attended most of the concerts.
Starting in 2005, the Tribina stopped being an international forum, as it had since the early 1990s, and once again became a showcase for national creativity, occasionally featuring works by foreign composers from the 20th or 21st century that were mostly performed by national artists. The festival presents not only contemporary music concerts, but also features contemporary works from other genres, such as performances by accordion or tamburica orchestras, jazz ensembles, chanson singers, and ensembles that blend artistic and popular music.
The Tribina returned to its original birthplace of Opatija in 2010, but in 2021, it moved to Osijek, a city where it received a warm welcome. Osijek also witnessed the proud celebration of the Tribina’s 60th anniversary in 2023!