News

The Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb in the season 2024/2025 rounds up half of the mandate of the current management that has initiated many projects, partnerships and achieved many successes and introduced novelties. Nine Croatian Theatre Arts' Awards in one season, attendance rate of almost 95 percent and more than 5500 sold subscriptions is a sign of satisfied spectators and in the upcoming seasons the CNT in Zagreb will mark the 130th anniversary of the theatre building which will be grandly celebrated and will show the longevity and significance of the CNT in Zagreb in the Croatian and European theatre environment. 

The awards that were granted to our performances and artists are a clear sign of the realised artistic achievements. We are especially happy with the great attendance rate and the record sale of subscriptions. The season ahead of us will show, along the successful reruns in drama, opera and ballet, 11 premiere titles that were designed pursuant to the set mission of the CNT in Zagreb, balancing between the classical and contemporary, Croatian and international titles in all the three artistic branches, said the general manager of the CNT in Zagreb Dr Iva Hraste Sočo, and added how the international cooperation with organisations such as Opera Europa, where she is personally a member of the board, as well as with the World Opera Forum, but also the European Theatre Convention and Fedora platform and drama EU projects Prospero and Stages continues.
With co-productions with leading European theatres and tours we shall additionally affirm the CNT in Zagreb within the European framework, said the general manager Iva Hraste Sočo.
The repertoire of the following season will be diverse, from large-scale drama performances, Croatian and canonical titles of world opera literature, but also performances for children, ballet concerts with prominent world stars to classical, neoclassical and contemporary ballets.  The CNT in Zagreb will host prestigious international festivals and forums. This season we shall have the second edition of the Zagreb Opera Festival whose first edition was praised by the spectators and the critics.

The new season will begin with a new director of the Drama, the internationally acclaimed and awarded dramatist Tena Štivičić whom the general manager invited in order to incite new positive energy with the brilliant drama ensemble of the CNT in Zagreb. Tena Štivičić will expand the season by selecting a contemporary drama text as the fourth opening night in the season.
The drama season will open with King Gordogan by Radovan Ivšić, directed by Rene Medvešek, a stage director well known to our audience. King Gordogan is Ivšić's magnum opus, a work of monstruous associations, exceptional poetic and political power that faithfully portrays all the cruelty of power. The next premiere is a large-scale performance after Miroslav Krleža's Flags that will be directed by Ivan Planinić, adapted together by directors Mirna Rustemović and Dubravko Mihanović. After ten years Jernej Lorenci will return to the CNT in Zagreb and direct Crime and Punishment by Fyodor M. Dostoevsky, in adaptation by dramaturge Dino Pešut, said Tena Štivičić.
We shall continue with new experimental projects that question new theatre and interdisciplinary forms in the venue of the Sound Hall. We also plan discursive projects within the STAGES project that are designed as a theatre laboratory in which we shall give authors the opportunity to develop new projects, to question and explore ideas with the support of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb.

The Opera of the CNT in Zagreb during the 164th season plans to continue achieving its goals based on the deliberations about the national stage as a guardian of cultural heritage, but also contemporary tendencies along implementing the wishes of the audience. 
Beside the most successful productions from the previous seasons, we are preparing three new titles (Parać's Judita, Massenet's Werther and Dvořák's Rusalka). In September we are hosting the second edition of the Zagreb Opera Festival at which five European theatres will showcase their most successful productions. We shall also continue with our concert programs in the theatre foyer and performances at the Klovićevi dvori Gallery. Our youngest visitors will be offered a new opera title for children — Gita and the Hidden World, said the director of the Opera Željka Barišić Pulig, adding how young opera artists are continually supported by a scholarship program and the Opera studio and how it is nice to see that he Opera of the CNT in Zagreb is a relevant factor in the European cultural circles.
Led by the chief conductor, maestro Pier Giorgio Morandi, the Opera continues its artistic vision before us: Along exceptional principals and soloists of the CNT in Zagreb in our performances next season, you will be able to listen to opera soloists who have already conquered European and world stages. As the chief conductor, I am proud to say that throughout the past two seasons we have achieved the performative level of European opera houses, and we shall remain on that path in the upcoming season as well.

The new ballet season will commence with the ballet gala concert of Roberto Bolle and other international guests and the director of the Ballet Massimiliano Volpini first announced the return of Edward Clug, a choreographer much loved by the audience. After the great success of his ballet Peer Gynt, he will stage ballet Petrushka by Igor Stravinsky in an entirely new production.
Together with Petrushka we shall have The Firebird, a new creation by Maša Kolar, the appreciated Croatian choreographer and current director of the Rijeka ballet. In April we plan a special project together with the Zagreb Music Biennale, a triple bill with 3 different composers associated with 3 different choreographers. An experimental and innovative project, where the choreographers chosen by the CNT in Zagreb and the composers selected by the Zagreb Music Biennale were given the theme of “Broken relationships”, on which they have to compare and combine music and dance in a stimulating creative process. The Ballet of the CNT will additionally enhance the care for Croatian dancers by the establishment of a ballet studio in order to strengthen the Croatian ballet corps in our ensemble. During the season we shall have reruns of Hamlet by Leo Mujić, Peer Gynt by Edward Clug, An Evening of two choreographers McGregor/Volpini, ballet Giselle by Jose Martinez and the popular The Nutcracker by Vladimir Malakhov. These are all titles that have achieved extraordinary success, and which have consolidated the splendid bond between the Zagreb audience and the Ballet of the CNT in Zagreb.

SUBSCRIPTION REGISTRATION

Online subscription registration commences on June 18, 2024, and at the Box Office on September 2, 2024. The spectators are offered 13 attractive subscriptions which will offer best drama, opera and ballet performances at acceptable prices.
Information on subscriptions can be acquired by phone: 01 4888 460 / 414 or email: pretplata@hnk.hr.
With the assistance of the main theatre sponsor Mplus, Business Process and Technology Outsourcing (BPTO) of the Bosqar Invest, the CNT in Zagreb will continue to modernise its support to subscribers in the following season as well.