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The repertoire of the new 163rd theatre season of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb was presented at a press conference at which the general manager Iva Hraste Sočo, director of Drama Nenni Delmestre, director of Ballet Massimiliano Volpini, acting director of Opera Željka Barišić Pulig and honorary chief conductor of the CNT Orchestra Pier Giorgio Morandi talked about premieres, repertoire, surprises and special programs that are planned for the 2023/2024 season.

In the past season we have shown the desired development of our theatre, that was based on the interaction between distinguished international and our brilliant our artists and ensembles, as a pledge of artistic achievements and full progress of the CNT in Zagreb. The new season is conceived in the same manner: attention was paid to international and national anniversaries when selecting the repertoire, but also to ensemble members since they are the ones leading the repertoire in all the three artistic branches: Drama, Opera and Ballet. In this manner we shall obtain a development of both the repertoire and ensembles in their entirety and offer our visitors the possibility to get an insight into global theatre trends, said at the very beginning the general manager of the CNT in Zagreb Iva Hraste Sočo.
In season 2022/2023 the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb had a 94 percent attendance rate and reached a number of almost 5000 subscribers which is a 13 percent increase in relation to season 2018/2019. The largest increase was in the Opera subscriptions, while 142 performances and programs in the previous season were sold out.
The opening of the season is planned for September 22, 2023 with a ballet concert dedicated to artists who have completed their careers after decades of work in the Ballet of the CNT in Zagreb and the young dancers who have entered the ensemble after a large audition with 1200 candidates from all over the world.
The first ballet production will be Hamlet choreographed by Leo Mujić, a large ensemble performance based on Shakespeare's master-piece. In March we shall have a Double bill presenting the work of Wayne McGregor (Dyad 1929) and my new choreography (Primordium). The last production in the following season is dedicated to Igor Stravinsky and his ballets Petrushka choreographed by Edward Clug who returns to the CNT in Zagreb after his successful Peer Gynt and The Firebird choreographed by Maša Kolar. We have in front of us a very rich season with both classical and contemporary titles that will certainly intrigue many ballet visitors, said the director of the Ballet Massimiliano Volpini.

Opera has selected titles that will be staged by prominent authors from Croatia and Europe which will remain on the repertoire for years, to the pleasure of the opera audience. We have added to La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi and to The Magic Flute by Mozart two successful productions from this season, opera Nabucco by Giuseppe Verdi and operetta The Bat by Johann Strauss Jr. With the premiere of La Bohème by Giacomo Puccini we join the theatres marking the 100th death anniversary of Puccini, while Jakov Gotovac's one-act opera Stanac will be complemented by the comic work of Ermann Wolf-Ferrari Il Segretto di Susanna that will premiere at the end of the season in the atrium of Gallery Klovićevi dvori, announced the acting director of the Opera Željka Barišić Pulig and pointed out that these titles along the national operas Ero the Joker by Jakov Gotovac and Nikola Šubić Zrinjski by Ivan noble Zajc will be the focus of the repertoire of the Opera of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb.

The honorary chief conductor of the Orchestra of the CNT in Zagreb Pier Giorgio Morandi emphasised how the Opera will perform the masterpiece of Giuseppe Verdi Requiem, in order to improve the quality of the soloists, Chorus and Orchestra, which he will conduct with the participation of the famous tenor Stefan Pop.
In my second season at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb it is my great pleasure to present the local and international audience the new season with four new productions of which I will conduct two: Verdi's opera Rigoletto – in which we shall present the great soloists such as Irina Dubrovskaya and tenor Atalla Ayana, and Nabucco. At the beginning of December this year the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb will join the international marking of the birth anniversary of Maria Callas with a festive performance of Rigoletto with the renowned baritone Željko Lučić who will be the honorary guest this season.

The director of the Drama Nenni Delmestre announced the beginning of the season with performance Reality, an experiment with two actors, Nina Violić and Livio Badurina who will, with the author and stage director Tomislav Šoban and his creative team, investigate the causal relationships inspired by the lectures of physicist Richard Feynman. Disappearance of Tomislav Zajc directed by Dora Ruždjak Podolski will open many questions about human relations and we shall take a stroll over a bridge 400 years old and find ourselves on the streets of Vienna imagined by Shakespeare in Measure for a Measure directed by Ivan Plazibat.

We shall also stage an exceptionally successful contemporary text situated in the 18th century, The Wilken by the English author Lucy Kirkwood, that will be directed by Marina Pejnović. An Adventurer at the Door by Milan Begović directed by Helena Petković will talk about a period of time that imposes upon us a prefabricated happiness, and issues on happiness, as reconciliation with oneself and those who are closest, with our desires and dreams, we have found in books Fafarikul and New End written by Đurđica Čilić. Out of handful of these short, warm stories, dramaturge Mirna Rustemović and stage director Ivan Planinić will create a model for a performance with Darija Lorenci Flatz and a post-dramatic music band continuing our desire to keep the door open to new winds with these smaller-scale experimental productions said the director of Drama Nenni Delmestre.

Along the premieres and repertory titles, the CNT in Zagreb is preparing many special programs such as concerts of opera The Fire by Blagoje Bersa in coproduction with the ensembles of the Croatian Radiotelevision, the cycle of chamber concerts of the Zagreb Philharmonic and the CNT in Zagreb that will continue its second season since in its first season the interest was exceptional and the concerts were sold out, Operas for babies, the second edition of the Opera Zagreb Festival, Film vault and many other projects.

With the coproductions with European and Croatian theatres, international guest performances and active participation in European associations such as Opera Europa, European Theatre Convention, Fedora, Operavision, etc. the CNT in Zagreb will increase its visibility in the European theatrical space and expand its own artistic capacities.

Subscription registration will begin on September 1, at the Box Office and online via the website www.hnk.hr, and along the 12 subscriptions by which the visitors have access to top-quality drama, opera and ballet performances at affordable prices, due to the great interest for the subscription titled Theatre for the Family, this year the CNT in Zagreb will offer one more such subscription called My first subscription. This new subscription is designed to offer first-time theatre experience to visitors. With the help of the leading sponsor of the theatre Mplus, the CNT in Zagreb constantly modernises its approach to subscribers.