Mezzotono, Small Italian Orchestra Without Instruments
The Mezzotono performance is entirely executed by five voices a-cappella, which means without the use of any musical instruments, because the voices reproduce the different instruments ( drums, percussions, electric bass, guitar, mandolin). The originality of the performance is evident in their repertoire which consists solely of defining Italian music and varies from songs in barese dialect to some classic songs of the Italian tradition. All the songs have a very different impact from the original version because of the unpredictable contribution of the rythmic-vocal section. The often comical approach of the five interpreters encourages audience participation in a nice and never pushy way. Although only together for a few years, Mezzotono has already been in several prominent Italian tv appereances ( Rai 2 as contestants in the show X-Factor, Pugliachannel, Telenorba, Antenna Sud), their tours have included theaters all over the world and they have performed hundreds of concerts. In June of 2008 their cd “Mezzotono” was produced by the record company. Preludio of Milan, Italy. In October of 2008 they were selected as one of the ten best groups in the whole Country and they were asked to partake in the making of the cd “A-Cappella Made in Italy”.
Mezzotono members include Daniela Desideri, soprano, Francesca Leone, mezzosoprano, Fabio Lepore, tenore, Marco Giuliani, baritono and Andrea Maurelli, basso.

Trio Querelle

Petromila Marica Jakas violin
Svebor Szekely cello
Ivan Violić piano

Svebor Szekely
Born 1977 in Zagreb. He starts with a musical education at the music school in the class of prof. Dobrila Berkovic-Magdalenić. During his education he was an excellent student and winner of several prizes at national competitions in the category of solo and chamber music. He graduated in 1995. and enrolled in the Academy of Music, prof. Nicholas Ružević. All four years he finished as an excellent student. He was a member of the Croatian Chamber Orchestra, the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, and has collaborated with the Symphony Orchestra
and the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra. Since 2006. he is employed as a professor of cello at the music school Albert Štriga in Križevci. He is member of the piano trio Querelle with Petromila Jakas and John Violić and they are  attending training together at the conservatory in Graz in the class of prof. Chie Chou. Among other concerts trio Querelle had a very successful performance at the Music Festival Darko Lukic in season 2010/2011.

Petromila Marica Jakas
Petromila Jakas was born in Šibenik, a resort town on the Adriatic coast, of Croatia. She spent most of her childhood travelling to different parts of Europe, Asia and Australia and in that way she was introduced to different cultures and lifestyles very early in her life, which proved  to be of immense importance to her artistic and creative development. As a child, she began her education in violin. At the age of 16 she enters the Academy of Music in the class of prof. Orest Shourgot (Ukraine). She graduated at the age of 20 in the class of prof. Koncar (Croatia). During the course of her studies, thanks to the teaching of prof. dr. Shourgot, she was awarded a prestigious Rector reward, and also won prizes in national and international competitions, such as third place at the "Lions" club international competition in Rijeka 2000.
After gradutation, she begins to collaborate as a soloist and chamber musician with the "Cantus" musical ensemble, playing modern styles. Since 2003. Petra is a full time member of the Symphony Orchestra of HRT (Croatian Radiotelevision). In year 2010. as a member of piano trio "Querelle" she continues her musical education in Academy of Music in Graz in class of prof. Chia Chou and in class of prof. Taras Pecheny in Zagreb. In July 2011. Petromila performed as a soloist with "BISYOC" orchestra in Presteigne (UK).


Ivan Violić
Born in 1982 in Dubrovnik where he acquired elementary and secondary education in the Arts High School Luka Sorkočević. At the Music Academy in Zagreb he became master of music in Piano Pedagogy and Performance under prof.Pavica Gvozdić. Regularly performs as a soloist and artistic collaborator in Croatia. Had distinguished concerts with Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of Music Academy in Zagreb, in the cycle "Virtuoso", on the Krk summer evenings. Participated on many piano courses with:
Đ. Stanetti, K. Gekić, R. Kehrer, A. Katz, P. Eicher. 2010th enrolled in postgraduate study of chamber music in Graz under prof.Chou.

In the last few years, clarinetist Mihael Paar has ranged himself among the most promising Croatian clarinetists. Due to his unique and artisticly distinctive interpretations, as well as to the virtuoso use of the special performing techniques, he gained exceptional renome verified through numerous achievements on the international scene. After having graduated from the Zagreb Academy of Music (prof. J. Tonžetić), he pursued his studies at the Mozarteum School of Music Salzburg (prof. A. Brandhofer) earning his MA summa cum laude in 2006. As early as the age of 15, Mihael Paar attracted attention for his debut performance with the Symphony Orchestra Windstrings performing Weber's Concertino. Since then he has given numerous concerts and recitals in his home country and abroad, most notably highly praised soloist concerts with the Franjo Krežma Chamber Orchestra and Samobor String Players. He is the winner of the Padua and Ohrid International Competitions, as well as the 3rd Prize winner of the Bari International Competition. He was awarded a special prize by the Croatian Composers' Society for the best interpretation of a work by a Croatian composer in 2007 and he also received the Solti Foundation Award in 2010. His performances include soloist concerts and recitals at the established international festivals (TSMAF, OLJK, SGJ, Europassion, International Music Festival Pula) and concert halls (Yamaha New York, Walter Hall Toronto, Mozarteum's Great Hall, Lisinski, HGZ) along with the chamber ensembles such as the Zagreb String Quartet, the Sebastian Quartet and the Mirabell Quartet. In 2010 his work was acknowledged by the official academy of the Vienna Philharmonics (OAO) as he became the first Croatian musician to join this prestigious institution since its foundation. Eager to search for the authentic text of the repertoire, Mihael Paar is the first Croatian clarinetist to perform Mozart's Clarinet Concerto and the Quintet in their original version on the basset clarinet. His integral performance of the Quintet at the Gala Opening of the Zagreb Europassion Festival 2009 credits as the first such performance to take place in Croatia ever.



Ivan Pernicki (Zagreb, 1983) graduated from the Music Academy in Zagreb and continued his studies at La Schola Cantorum in Paris, in the class of pianist Eugen Indjić. He has won numerous awards through his musical education, and has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States. In October of 2008, he was invited to perform the premiere of a composition by composer E. Ewanzena at the Juilliard School in New York. He has recorded for HRT radio and television, and has recorded two solo CDs. Pernicki is the Vice President and a founding member of the JinLun musical association, as well as a professor at the Vatroslav Lisinski music school in Zagreb. The program will include works of Franz Danzi, W.A. Mozart, Francis Poulenc, Béla Kovács and others.




Kazalište Smješko
15 years of putting up shows! Since our beginnings, we have gained great experience in realising large and small tours, playing in very different spaces- both outdoors and indoors- for which we are technically prepared.
20 titles from the most important children's writers we have brought to the stage, each in at least,
150 performances,200 shows from the repertoire- performed each year throughout Croatia, but also in Bosnia and Hercegovina, Austria and Australia,250 audience members attending our shows in cultural centers, schools, theatres, at least4 times per week, 300 audience members per show, who attened shows as part of our open summer tour of the coast (on local squares and open spaces created for these types of events).
Within this tour, theatre company members always visit orphanages, institutions of health and other similar institutions for children.

Hrvoje Zalar, born October 28, 1964, is a Croatian theatre and television actor, known for his role as Zvonko Bandić in the Croatian version of the TV series Married with Children. Zalar obtained his Diploma in Yugoslavian language and literature from the Philosophy Faculty of the University of Zagreb, as well as from the Academy of Dramatic Arts. He has won numerous awards, including the Croatian Theatre Award (2000) and three Actors' Festival Awards (1995, 2000, 2008). He has also acted in many radio dramas and educational television programs on HTV.

Helena Kalinić, academic actress, was born in Zagreb on January 1, 1983. In 2006, she obtained her Diploma in Academic Arts from the University of Zagreb's Academy of Arts. From that time, she has worked as an independent artist and has perfomed with many theatre ensembles: the Zadar Theatre, the City Theatre of Požega, Sisak Cultural Centre, Merlin Theatre, and the Smješko Theatre. She has perfomed the roles of: Kristina in Miss July, the wild boar in The Hedgehog's House, Iva in Humorous Folk Tales, Little Red Riding Hood in Little Red Riding Hood and others… She is an honorary artist at the Zadar Theatre, Merlin Theatre and Smješko Theatre.

Mirta Zečević was born in Zagreb on July 25, 1969. She became a member of the Croatian National Theatre's dramatic ensemble in 1993. In 1997, she graduated with a Diploma from the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb. She has acted in many roles, including:
Tognina – Impresario from Smyrna by Carla Goldoni, dir. Paolo Magelli, 1993; Anica – The Theft of Maria's Statue by Kristijan H. Ban, dir. Jakov Sedlar, 1993; Karmela – Sunken Bells by Ivo Brešan, dir. Kosta Spaić, 1994; Fosca/Lucija – Coma Berenices by Nedjeljko Fabrija, dir. Georgio Paro, 1995; Antigone – Antigone by Jean Anouilh, dir. Petar Šarčević, 1995; Anđelija – Kletva by Augusta Šenoe, dir. Želimir Mesarić, 1995; Antica – Ekvinocijo by Ivo Vojnović, dir. Ivica Kunčević, 1996; Pera – Dundo Maroje by Marina Držić, dir. Ozren Prohić, 2007; a fairy – A Midsummer Night's Dream by Williama Shakespeare, dir. Dora Ruždjak Podolski, 2007... and many more.

Vladimir Bodegrajac was born in 1978. After finishing Vatroslav Lisinski music school in Zagreb, he studied piano under Prof. Marina Ambokadze and musicology under Prof. Dr. Sc. Larissa Loginova at Ino Mirkovich Academy, under the license of the Moscow State Conservatory P. I. Tchaikovsky. He finished postgraduate studies of composition at Komitas State Conservatory, Yerevan, Armenia, under Prof. Dr. Armen Smbatyan.

Tihomir Petrović was born in Zagreb on the 25th of July 1951. He studied at the Department of Music Theory at the Music Academy of the University of Zagreb, where he graduated in 1976, receiving the degree of mag. in music. Since 1977 he has been lecturing all subjects concerning music theory at the Music School Vatroslav Lisinski in Zagreb, and since 1993 at the Rock-Academy in Zagreb. Since 2005 he has been leading a series of popular lectures for the public, called Tuesday Workshop at the Croatian Music Institute. He is an author of a number of textbooks dealing with all areas of music theory (basic of music, harmony, counterpoint, music forms, solfeggio). He has composed many children songs and different musical pieces for four English language textbooks. He has authored an educating and entertaining musical story Maja, Juraj and a Gold Fish (Maja, Juraj i zlatna ribica). He writes book reviews, scientific and popular papers, holds seminars and lectures about all areas of music theory. He has prepared three collections of church songs: To All on the Earth (Svim na zemlji), Christ Has Risen (Uskrsnu Isus doista), Hail, Virgin Mary (Zdravo, Djevo), where he harmonised all the songs, prepared them for vocal performance with accompaniment and for two-part and three-part choirs a cappella. Petrović prepared, edited, harmonised and authored arrangements for the song collection Croatian Sacred Songs (Hrvatske crkvene popijevke) for a voice and accompaniment, published in 2000. He has edited the notes collection Eight Folk Masses through the Liturgical Year (Osam pučkih misa kroz liturgijsku godinu), by church musician and composer fra Ivo Peran. In 1997 he founded the Croatian Association of Music Theorists (Hrvatsko društvo glazbenih teoretičara – HDGT – www.hdgt.hr), which he has been presiding and organising all its activities. He initiated a periodical of the Croatian Association of Music Theorists, called THEORIA in 1998 and since then he has been its editor in chief. He established a book series of the Croatian Association of Music Theorists in 2000 and has been editing its publications ever since.

Silvia Maserati was born in Milan. She graduated as a classical pianist at Conservatorio G. Cantelli, Novara and at Accademia Internazionale della Musica, Milan. Between 1997 and 2005 she studied with Luisella Minini Granziera (pianoforte) Roberto Gambaro (pianoforte), Mario Garuti (composition), Giovanni Grosskopf (composition), Enzo Corti (organ), Patrizia Bernelich (piano accompanist), Maria Grazia Gazzola (chamber music), Lidia
Baldecchi Arcuri (history and physiology of piano technique).
She practiced vocal chamber music as a piano accompanist during
soprano Anna Maria Pizzoli' s singing lessons at Accademia Rossini, Busto
Arsizio, in 2005-2006. For over ten years she studied and performed popular italian and angloamerican repertoire as a keyboardist in “Gary Angelo Band” and “Neoclassic Duo”, an unconventional chamber duo, featuring pianoforte
and electric guitar. After a long teaching experience in a number of music schools, she founded “Infinitamusica”, her own piano school in Milan.
She is also co-founder and artistic director of “Città Studi Milano Festival”, a
classical music festival, presenting young soloists and chamber music groups
both emerging and established from Italy and abroad.
Due to her deep interest in music by women composers, she created
“Herstory of Music”, a musical and narrative performance built to enlighten
this particularly neglected repertoire.The project has been approved by CIRSDe, Department of Women Studies at Università di Torino, and it will soon appear in the “corso on-line” pages on CIRSDe website, both with texts and performances. She is currently performing four-hands piano repertoire with Diego Terreni, as “Pas de Deux Piano Duo”, with particular attention to North American composers and women composers.

DIEGO TERRENI Born in Livorno brilliantly follows the diploma in piano under the guidance of Master P. Rossi at the 'Institute of Music R. Franco of Siena. His musical education was then supported by further studies piano and musical interpretation with Vincenzo Audino, Alessandro Bertirotti, Marco Rapattoni, Francesco Dilaghi, chamber music and piano with Pier Narciso Masi, Trio Modigliani, Angelo Pepicelli, Loguercio Mauro, Francesco Pepicelli. He also took part in two-year courses of Cognitive Psychology of Music with Alessandro Bertirotti, Neurophysiology of the musician with M. Baudo, Acoustics with L. Cordati Rosaia, Directing Orchestra
with Lorenzo Parigi, Music Therapy and Autism with Ferdinando Suvini. It has been widely recognized in several national and international competitions both as a soloist and in chamber ensembles. Author of publications and record reviews, writes as a journalist and editor of the online magazine ClassicaViva. He teaches courses in listening guide, a speaker at seminars, workshops and lecture-concert held at several major Italian cultural institutions. He teaches seminars and workshops for, cultural marketing, organization and management of cultural, technical and cultural methods of fund raising. Since 2003 he works as a professor of music education and music therapy to health workers with training agencies accredited by the Tuscan Region. He collaborates frequently with opera singers, both in the repertoire of traditional d 'Opera in the literature Lieder. An intense concert activity as soloist and in chamber ensembles (Nuevo Tango Quartet, Meridian Piano Trio, with soprano Susie Helena Georgiadis, Pas de deux Piano Duo with Silvia Maserati, Duo Aconcagua with accordionist Massimo Signorini) for important musical institutions in Italy (Livorno , Pisa, Milan, Turin, Rome, Palermo, Salerno, Padova, Frascati) and abroad (Croatia, Switzerland, France). Since 2002 he holdes as artistic director for musical and cultural institutions. He is currently artistic director of the "Città Studi" Milano Film Festival (co-director), the "Meridian Festival" Città di Cecina, Concerts of Joyful Casale Marittimo. He is the founder, artistic director and piano teacher of masterclasses in interpretation and musical refinement of Castellina Marittima.

The attitude to musical composition manifests itself in Alessandro Cesaro since childhood, an unequivocal sign of a deep and complete understanding of musical language. He has also studied piano with Franco Angeleri at Padua's Conservatory, graduating at the age of 16 with the maximum vote, and the special mention of the Jury. He studied then with Paul Badura-Skoda and Aldo Ciccolini in Rome. The career starts soon as following some victories in prestigious National and International (among which are the Venice Prize, the "Amadeus" of Palermo, the Prize "Yamaha" of Stresa) and above all with the important affirmation to the 48° International Contest in Geneva which at 18 years lanches him in international career. He regularly gives numerous recitals in Italy with the Associations: Serate Musicali Milan, Amici della Musica (Padua, Vicenza, Verona, Trieste, Udine), Union Musical Turin, Alexander Scarlatti of Naples. He has also played in Germany (Bochum, Paderborn), in Switzerland (Geneva, Bienne, Basilea), Belgium (Bruxelles) and Argentina, where he had six tournées, playing in Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Tucumàn and Salta. In May 2008 he has completed a wide tour in Mexico (Federal Capital and Michoacan) where he played for the university UNAM and for the Theatro de la Ciudad inaugurating a new piano Steinway. With notable resonance he gave three executions integral (opera omnia of Chopin, Schubert and the 32 Beethoven's sonatas) for the Summer-Festival Euganeo (Arquà Petrarca) and he realized them with ancients instruments. In 2009 he made in Padua the first italian performance of Granados “Cant de les estrelles”, a work recently discovered. He has played with numerous orchestras among which: the Solisti Veneti, the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, the Suisse Romande in Geneva, the Collegium Musicum Basel, the Chamber orchestra of Bienne, the orchestra of the Theater of Cordoba, the Stable orchestra of the Province of Tucumàn, the Sicilian Symphonic orchestra. He has collaborated with many conductors among which: Claudio Scimone, Anton Nanut, Pedro Ignacio Calderon, Miguel Angel Gilardi, and others. A Characteristic of his personality is the extraordinary versatility and ability to face the most different aspects of pianistic literature and this allows him to have in repertoire the “opera omnia” of all the maximum composers for piano, from Mozart to Beethoven, from Schubert to Chopin. He has engraved for Rivo Alto and Azzurra Music (music of Beethoven). To the activity of interpreter he places side by side composition and many of his chamber-music works are regularly performed. He publishes his compositions by Editions Armelin Musica.

Katja Markotić was born in Zagreb where she began her music studies as vocalist in the class of tenor N. Žunec. She graduated in Graz at ˝Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst˝, specializing in Lied and oratorio, in the class of renowned mezzo-soprano Prof. Ira Malaniuk. She also studied with Prof. F. X. Lukasowsky in Vienna. As a concert singer she has been equally successful in performing works from various periods, from Baroque to Contemporary music. Besides Croatian authors, K. Markotić’s repertoire includes works by the most significant representatives of the European vocal tradition (Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Liszt, Mahler, Strauss, Rachmaninov). She often performs arias for mezzosoprano (alto) in Bach’s and Händel’s oratorios as well.
Her repertoire includes also the 2. Symphony by G. Mahler which she performed with the Orchestra of Croatian National Theatre in Split under conductor N. Bareza, Mahler’s first cycle ˝Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen˝ with Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra under conductor M. Tarbuk, Six songs op. 13 by A. Zemlynsky with Zagreb Symphony Orchestra HRT under conductor Christian Ewald. As a concert soloist she performed with eminent orchestras and chamber ensembles such as The Zagreb Soloists, The Zagreb String Quartet, The String Quartet of Milan, The String Quartet of Venice, The Cremona Soloists, The Croatian Chamber Orchestra, The Korean Chamber Orchestra (Seoul), The German Chamber Orchestra Frankfurt, The Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, The Ljubljana Symphonic Orchestra, The Symphony wind Orchestra of Croatian Army and others. She has made her appearance at all major music festivals in the country (Zagreb Summer Festival, Split Summer, Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Osor Musical Evenings, Varaždin Baroque Evenings) as well as in Austria, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Slovenia, Spain, Hungary, Poland and Great Britain. She achieved special success with her solo recitals at international festival „Cervantino ˝ XXX in Mexico and in Palacio de Bellas Artes (Mexico City). She has recorded two solo CD s featuring works of J. Brahms, O. Respighi, D. Pejačević, J. Slavenski, and F. Livadić. Since 1996 she has been the director of the Summer Music Festival in Rovinj.

Stefani Grbic, pianist. Born in Dubrovnik where she completed elementary and music high school in class of prof. Marija Grazio. At the moment, she is absolvent of Akademija za glasbo in Ljubljana in class of doc. Tomaž Petrač. During her education, she participated at seminars (T. Petrač, R. Dalibaltayan and others) and competitions: Country Competition 3rd award in Dubrovnik (2003),two second awards at State Competition in Zadar (2004) and Samobor (2005) Chamber Trio at prof. B. Krasovac. With Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra she preformed D. Šostaković's Concertino op. 98 (arr. A. Lečić) (2005), E. Grieg Piano concerto in a minor op.16 (2009) for which she won Prešern's aword in Ljubljana and the 1st Franz Liszt's Piano Concerto in E-flat major.




Neno Mikulic was born in Split in 1964. He lives and work in Split. In 1987 he graduated from University of Chemical Technology in Zagreb. After a few years working as an engineer, he became aware of his greater passion for art and he decided to study a PAINTNING. In 2002 , under Gorky Žuvela mentorship ,he finished the ACADEMY of ART in Split. Since 1986 he works not only as a painter and sculptor but he is engaged in newspaper caricatures and comic strips. For his work JESUS CHRIST TK-79 he won the first prize in PASIONSKA BASTINA competition that took a place at famous MIMARA MUSEUM in Zagreb. He has exhibited much in collective and independent exhibitions in very prestigious venues such as Klovićevi dvora and Museum Mimara in Zagrebu in Austriji and in Virtul gallery Serrano in Paris. "Homo ludens - The man who plays.....The Opus of Neno Mikulic is seemingly characterized by a dichotomy of expression. His early work reflects a contemporary visual art discourse in the footprint of Art Brut and German Expressionism (from around 1920 through neoexpressionism). His early drawings are simple, primitive (in the footprint of Basquiat), wild colors, harsh expression, powerful. In his compositions, inverted upside down, one can see the direct impact of Baselitz and the brutality of German Expressionism. He was able to connect the Vlach Zagora with the sea, the Alkars and sailors, village and city grandmothers. There is a saying that "ships are like people", but that is true for a mustache too. His sculptures are associative, suggestive and have the ability to draw the viewer into his story (the game)...."




Meri Cetinić was born June 15 1953 in Split, Croatia. She lives there as well. Her family background is from Blato on the island of Korčula, where her parents were born, moving later to Split at the beginning of the 1950s, when Meri was born. As a child she began to perform in public, and during elementary school took all the lead roles in school performances...“So, what is the secret of her success, why did we welcome this Blato inbred voice so gladly and eagerly? Meri – a word sufficiant enough for everyone to know who it is behind it – in her voice and interpretation contains a winning union of the good old "traditional pop music" and the new, modern sound. No, it isn't some compromize, it is simply something Else. It is Janis Joplin, Carole King and Roberta Flack, her mucis idols, in one. This doesn't mean that she, Meri, emerged from these names like from under an «indigo». By no means! – those who listen to her music will know better. Her voice – it is just Meri! Unique and irreplaceable. It is, after all, a passion. Meri is equally passionate when she is singing about the sea, or about life and its four «Seasons», she flies off with the «Swallow», patient in expectation and lamentation «In passing» awaiting sailors, singing about Him and Her, about love and joy, hopes and fears. Whatever she sings about, she knows the measure, she knows the true power of the Note and of the Word. She breathes in the soul to her songs. She is often a composer herself, she «Sits and Plays». She is often a composer herself, she «Sits and Plays», never failing to feel the song and its Mediteranian uniqueness. She is a true model of the temperament and the mentality of the climate she belongs to, of the light that comes together before it disperses like a wave in droplets of which one can see the flashing of the sun or the reflection of a rainbow. Voila, all this is Meri! Sensibility and technical perfection over her songs. And over her voice. A voice that echoes!” Jakša Fiamengo

Klapa Fa Lindjo (Croatian: Fa Linđo) is an a cappella female group from Dubrovnik, Croatia. The group was founded in 2000 as a part of The Folklore Ensemble Lindjo. In 2002 they won the Golden Token Award at the Verona Festival of Choral Singing in Italy. In 2003 and 2004, the girls made the finals at the Festival of the Dalmatian Klapas in Omis where they won the esteemed Audience Choice Award.They won audience award and the Golden Leut at Omiš in 2009. Their style of "a cappella" singing is called Klapa. It is a traditional style of music from Dalmatia.