The Zagreb Festival Orchestra
was founded in 1989, comprised of the top classical performers in Croatia and formed with the intent to record a single album. That intent was fulfilled with OVERTURES, a record of composer Gioachino Rossini’s greatest operatic works conducted by the acclaimed maestro Michael Halász, a resident conductor at the Vienna State Opera for 20 years, and produced by six-time GRAMMY Award winner Martin Sauer.

The album went on to worldwide commercial success, with its music featured in major Hollywood movies over the span of the decades, but the orchestra itself was never heard from again.

Until 2018. Nearly 30 years later, the Zagreb Festival Orchestra was reestablished as a recording and performing ensemble by the American music company PARMA Recordings and its CEO Bob Lord, featuring an all-star roster of handpicked musicians from the capital city and beyond. The orchestra’s first recorded appearance since its re-emergence, the contemporary music collection PRISMA 2 on the Navona Records label, was released in 2019.

A new orchestra comes together to record an album for a renowned classical music label. The music is greeted with critical acclaim and listener adoration, finding success in far-flung lands.

Shortly thereafter, a long-simmering political situation erupts into a brutal civil war in the home country of the ensemble. The orchestra becomes an afterthought amidst the rubble and shells, and the players scatter to the winds.

Three decades later, the orchestra is convened again to record a new album for an historic project that will touch hearts across the globe. The red light flashes, bows hit strings, and music is heard again.

​Sounds like the start of a forgotten novella or a long-lost ‘70s art-house flick, doesn’t it? Yet this is the story of the Zagreb Festival Orchestra, and the story of a resurging city and country.

Miran Vaupotić
“Dynamic and knowledgeable" Croatian conductor Miran Vaupotić has built a dazzling career in Europe and far beyond, working extensively with the top symphony orchestras and ensembles around the world. From concert halls to recording sessions, Vaupotić’s passion and experience has led musicians of all backgrounds to resounding success.

Orchestras who have performed and recorded under Vaupotić’s baton include, to name a few, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Russian National Orchestra, the St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra, the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Budapest Symphony Orchestra MÁV, Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, the Cairo Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional Argentina, and the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. Many of these performances occurred in major halls around the globe, such as New York City’s Carnegie Hall, Vienna’s Wiener Musikverein, Berliner Philharmonie, Prague’s Rudolfinum and Smetana Hall, Cairo Opera House, Geneva's Victoria Hall and Beijing’s Forbidden City Concert Hall. In addition, Vaupotić has led three of China’s annual National New Year Tours, with the St. Petersburg State Hermitage Orchestra, the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra respectively, performing at China’s most eminent venues.

A strong advocate for new music, Vaupotić has premiered Carlos Franzetti’s Clarinet Concerto, Peter Machajdík's Farewell Fanfare, Roberto Di Marino's Guitar Concerto, Primous Fountain’s Symphony No. 2 commissioned by 28-time Grammy Award-winning American producer Quincy Jones, and many other works. He also premiered the opera Jelka by the late 20th-century Croatian composer Blagoje Bersa, bringing the piece to life decades after the influential composer’s passing.

In 2011 he made his opera debut in the United States, conducting Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at the Atlantic Coast Opera Festival (Philadelphia). That same year, he conducted Astor Piazzolla’s rarely-performed tango opera Maria de Buenos Aires in a fully-staged production at Zagreb’s Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall, featuring renowned singers Sandra Rumolino, Jorge Rodríguez, and José Luis Barreto. In 2012 he conducted the Empire Opera premier productions of Waundell Saavedra’s Sweet Dreams and John Alan Rose’s Rumpelstiltskin directed by Tyler Bunch (famous for his work as a puppeteer on The Muppets) in New York City at The National Opera America Center. In 2013 he debuted at the Croatian National Opera in Zagreb with Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia.

Vaupotić recorded his debut album ELEGIA for Classic Concert Records with the Russian Symphony Orchestra. His work on Naxos Records’ SENSATIONS, performed by the Croatian Philharmonic Orchestra and Italian virtuoso Cesare Chiacchiaretta, earned Vaupotić a Gold Medal win in the 2015 Global Music Awards. In 2018, Vaupotić recorded music for composer Matej Meštrović’s album 3 RHAPSODIES with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra and for the multi-composer album BENEATH THE TIDE with the Croatian Chamber Orchestra, both released on Navona Records. He has recorded with the renowned London Symphony Orchestra on multiple occasions, including for the 2017 Navona Records album TCHAIKOVSKY featuring violinist Moonkyung Lee, and Navona’s 2019 album SYMPHONY NO. 3 by composer John A. Carollo.

Among other awards and accolades, Vaupotić was recognized in 2016 with a First Prize win and special award at the 12th International Aram Khachaturian Conducting Competition in Yerevan, Armenia. Today, he is the Chief Conductor of the Croatian Chamber Orchestra and is one of international ambassadors for the EMMA for Peace (Euro Mediterranean Music Academy) under the patronage of UNESCO and honorary presidency of Riccardo Muti.