February 26, 2020 - What exactly was Dan Brown, of the Da Vinci Code fame, recording during spring last year in Zagreb?

While he was in Zagreb in March of 2019, he was quite secretive about the whole project, but now it has been made public. Dan Brown has written his first children's book, titled Wild Symphony, illustrated by Susan Batori (a world-renowned illustrator), filled with stories about Maestro Mouse and his musical animal friends. To accompany the stories, Dan Brown has also written short musical numbers. The fact that he's a talented musician, who had a musical career before the literary career is not widely known, but he's turning back to it now.

And then, when it came to the actual recording of the score which will be included in the application accompanying the book, Bob Lord, the director of the Parma Recordings company suggested the Zagreb Festival Orchestra as the solution. They have worked with the Croatian musicians before, and have received international awards for those recordings, so it's obvious why they'd want to come back.

The Zagreb team who worked on Brown's score were: Miran Vaupotić as a conductor, Krešimir Seletković as the producer and Tin Matijević as the orchestra manager. The Wild Symphony is to be published in Croatia in September, by VBZ, and a free application will be available along with the "book like you've never heard before". The app will recognize the chapter you're reading and start the music which goes with that chapter.

The world premiere of the project was supposed to happen during the fall in Shanghai, but that might not happen because of the coronavirus. In that case, the spectacle might take place in Zagreb, where the plan was for the European premiere to take place, with the Zagreb Filharmony participating.

November 22, 2019 - Gospel diva CeCe Winans has been nominated for a Grammy Award for her album with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, which was recorded at the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall in Zagreb. 

The huge news came earlier this week when the nominations were announced for the 62nd Grammy Awards, set to air on January 26th in Los Angeles, California. However, the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra is fighting with CeCe Winans in a category you might not expect - the best gospel album. 

Namely, the 55-year-old legendary gospel singer is up for the best gospel album for Something’s Happening! A Christmas Album, which she recorded along with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra at the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall in Zagreb. 

CeCe Winans has already won 12 Grammys and can boast millions of albums sold. The Detroit-based gospel singer is currently unmatched in terms of circulation.

Behind the album’s production is the label Parma Recordings, an American record company which also has a presence in Croatia. 

Parma Recordings recalled their time recording the album:

“Nashville-based CeCe Winans is the best-selling female gospel artist of all time, having sold over 12 million records worldwide and winning 12 Grammy Awards to date during her career. With plans set for her latest album to ring in the 2018 holiday season, Ms. Winans’ production team wanted to add extra power to her performance—and what better way to do that than with a full orchestra? For this job, PARMA Recordings was called on to plan, contract, and produce the sessions with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra. Having just completed successful sessions with the Zagreb Philharmonic, who recorded for Croatian composer and dear PARMA friend Matej Meštrović, we were more than happy to work with this talented ensemble once again.

Together with our friends, Session Engineer Jan Košulič and Assistant Engineer Maroš Hlatký, Bob and team took part in directing the session, bringing each piece to its fullest potential. In all, the session, which covered classic Christmas melodies such as Silent Night and O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, saw a successful couple days of recording with the Zagreb Philharmonic. PARMA is pleased to have made this recording project possible—the results of which are now available to the listening world.”

You can listen to the Grammy-nominated album here. 

To read more about lifestyle in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

The Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra has opened its season under the new festival Zagreb Classic. With a very promising concert calendar ahead, this is a great summer opportunity to bring a blanket and enjoy music on the grass, in great company, for an evening in King Tomislav Park you surely won’t forget.

A busy season of quality music gets underway this week in Zagreb. 

A busy time coming up for the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra. 

This year's Rovinj Summer Festival is held July 17th-September 27th.