Music, Memory, and Meaning: A Night with the Viride Quartet

News | July 31, 2025

Society of Friends of Dubrovnik Antiquities and Europa Nostra
Ivana Jelača, local coordinator & artistic collaborator

On Monday, July 14, Viride Quartet presented a program entitled “Lost and Found” in the Rector’s Palace in Slano (Croatia). The event was organised by the Society of Friends of Dubrovnik Antiquities, the winner of the Europa Nostra Award in the Heritage Champions category, awarded in 2024.
Since the programme “Lost and Found” combines spoken word and music, including classical and contemporary chamber music intertwined with the narrative, special attention was paid to the historical ambience of the venue.
Ivana Jelača, Croatian pianist and coordinator of this event, participated in the performance by interpreting Machteld Koopmans’s text, translated into Croatian.
In addition, the repertoire selection for the opening part of the performance outdoors, at the Rector’s Palace loggia, was made on Ivana’s initiative. Within this artistic collaboration, Viride Quartet performed the Overture in G major by the Dubrovnik composer Luka Sorkočević (Sorgo), which was specially adapted for this occasion.
The rehearsal took place on Sunday, July 13, in the venue with the musicians and the artistic collaborator. The energy of the musical performance and the emotion of the spoken word merged in the ambience of the Rector’s Palace on Monday evening, sending a message of solidarity and positive energy in facing life’s challenges, and once again reminding us of the importance of cultivating highly valued values in preserving tangible and intangible European cultural heritage.

Additional activities

On Wednesday, July 16, the Viride Quartet visited the City of Dubrovnik. Tailored as a cultural-musical tour hosted by Ivana, it started with a visit to the Rector’s Palace (Cultural-History Museum that holds a valuable historical fortepiano among other instruments in the musical collection), the Museum of Modern Art, where Ivana played two short Croatian musical pieces as an extract of her musical matinees she performs there regularly.

Followed by a visit to the City Walls, the Headquarters of the Society of Friends of Dubrovnik Antiquities, where the musicians shared their feedback on the visit and their concert experience. After lunch, the rest of the afternoon was free time spent on a local beach.

Audience and Public Engagement

The concert was organized by 53 individuals, among whom most – 60% of the audience – were from the City of Dubrovnik. Among them, 24 attendees arrived by bus organised by the Society of Friends of Dubrovnik Antiquities, while 7 came by private car. The remaining audience members were local residents of Slano, including 4 foreign visitors. No special facilities were required for any attendees.
Feedback from the audience was collected from 23 participants – 18 via paper surveys and 5 via video interviews. The feedback indicated high intergenerational interest, with a majority of the participants aged 36 years and above. The largest age bracket represented was 65 years and above, and the fewer the participants were in the 26–35 age group. In terms of gender, 60% identified as female, 40% identified as male, and 10% refused to answer. The heterogeneous demographic breakdown suggests the broad appeal of the concert cross-demographically and cross-generationally, which speaks to the importance of cultural programming in local and regional contexts.
„Brilliant combination of music, acting, ambience and time. The transfer was made so smoothly, especially throughout the text interpretation, which was accomplished by an experienced lady performer who took us on an emotional journey by sharing her thoughts, feelings and cognition.“
„Touching. Excellent. Beautiful. Very nice. A perfect combination of music, youth and ambience. Bravo! We want a reprise. We need more events like these. Tradition, great organisation, and excellent young musicians. Super. Congrats!“

Additional links to check the concert:
Press Release:
Dubrovački vjesnik
Du List
Dubrovnik Net
Dubrovnik Insider
Croatian Radio
Libero Portal