Much in demand on the concert platform, Renata Pokupić appeared with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, sang with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and with Collegium Vocale Gent as well as DSO Berlin. She has also sung with Orchestre de Paris and Orchestre des Champs-Elysees, with Hofkapelle Esterhazy, with Handel Festival Goettingen, with Scottish Chamber Orchestra, at Mozarteum Salzburg with Le Cercle de l’Harmonie, with Orchestre de Paris, with the Bach Choir, with the Academy of Ancient Music, with Classical Opera and had an extensive tour of “Tribute to Lorraine Hunt Lieberson” with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
Branko Cikatic 1954-2020 the first K1 Grand Prix champion in Tokyo 1993
Branko Cikatić (1954-2020) was distinguished Croatian fighter, who was the winner of the first K1 Grand Prix Tournament in Tokyo in 1993 (in the finals against Ernest Hoost). At that time, he was at the age of 38, and is till these days the oldest winner of the K1 tournament. He was the winner of in various combat sports for thirteen times. In kick-boxing, he was the World Champion in 1981. He started his career in Solin, and then continued in his native city of Split. In 1989, the German journal Karate Budo Magazine decorated him with the Golden Glove, and proclaimed him to be the most popular combat sportsman in the world, in front of Chuck Norris i Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Luka Krilic poslao otvoreno pismo predsjedniku Republike Hrvatske i predsjedniku Vlade
Luka Krilić: Stručnjaci se slažu da će se svijet poslije ovakve krize definitivo mijenjati. Moramo vjerovati u bolje, nadati se tom boljitku, toj promjeni na bolje, ali to jako puno ovisi o političkim elitama i tome hoće li biti spremne suočiti sa sa ovakvim izazovima. Narod je uvijek spreman ako ima one koji ga dobro vode, ako ima vođe koji osobno daju primjer da se treba zalagati za opće dobro i djelovati na zajedničku korist i dobrobit. …
Croatian folk saga "Following the Sun" discovered on the island of Krk beginning before the Christian era
Rado Žic Mikulin and Leonard Eleršek are the authors of a monumental book Putom sunca (Following the Sun), dealing with the till now unknown saga from the island of Krk (the town of Punat) about the earliest Croatian history. It was registered by Rado Žic Mikulin from one of his grandfathers, and the saga has been passed to the present day from time immemorial. The saga starts before the Christian era, on the Tigris river. The authors provide a wealth of traditional verses from the island of Krk, as well as a number of very interesting old maps, describing the movement of Croatians to the coast of the Adriatic Sea.
Carmen Verlichak objavila je knjigu El Genocidio de Bleiburg
Krivodol PRESS, nakladnička kuća u Buenos Airesu, objavila je knjigu autorice Carmen Vrljicak El Genocidio de BLeiburg. Ta nakladnička kuća smatrala je kako je potrebno da ne samo Hrvati izvan Republike Hrvatske, nego i općenito hispanofona publika sazna što se dogodilo Hrvatima krajem Drugoga svjetskog rata. Bio je to jedan od najvećih. Knjiga sadrži veći broj svjedočanstava preživjelih koje je Vrljičak intervjuirala u Argentini. U nju su uvrštena i istraživanja Nikolaja Tolstoya
Starlings Rhapsody in Siroki Brig in Bosnia and Herzegovina – lesson for Europe and more…
Starling, or čvorak in Croatian, provides us with surprising lessons of social tolerance and help. See a short video from Bosnia and Herzegovina, shot in the city of Široki Brig (or Široki Brijeg, i.e., Wide Hill), which is not far from Međugorje. The duration of this very educative video is 1 minute and 19 seconds. Incredible starlings show on large transmission line was captured in the village Dobrkovići. The name of the Dobrkovići village is funny: Till the Moustache!
Miro Gavran in Vienna Austria and in Vilnius Lithuania 2020
In March 2020, Croatian author Miro Gavran will present his drama and prosaic work in Vienna and Vilnius. His comedy The Doll will premiere at the Theatre Centre Forum in Vienna on 5th March 2020. Tihomir Glowatzky translated the work into German and the play is directed by the renowned Austrian actor Hubsi Kramar. In the main roles are: Adriana Zartl and Christian Strasser; The Doll is produced by Carmen Wenger. It’s a jubilee, the 20th premiere of this play, which has had its world premiere in New York 2012 and since then it’s been produced in both Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia. It was recently published in China in the Anthology of East-European drama. A week later, on 13th March 2020, in the cultural Centre in Vilnius, Miro Gavran will promote his novel Kafka’s Friend in Laima Masyte’s translation, published by Ledikla Gelmes.
Celebrating 22nd February the Day of Croatian Glagolitic Script and Glagolitism
On 22nd Febrary, 1483, the first Croatian printed book has appeared in the Glagolitic Script. It shows that Croatian glagolitic priests were able to adopt very early Gutenberg’s technology of movable type. Only 12 copies of the books have been preserved, 5 of them kept in Croatia, and 7 scattered throughout the world: in the Russian National Library (former Russian Imperial Library) in St Petersburg, in the Austrian National Library in Vienna (former Austrian Royal Library), in the Vatican Apostolic Library (two copies), and in the Library of Congress in Washington. On the photo a monument to Gutenberg in Zagreb from cc. 1890, the first one in Europe appearing outside of German speaking area.
Croatian Post successfully made its first drone delivery in Feb 2020
The drone flew autonomously, from the Zadar port of Gaženica to Preko on the island of Ugljan at a speed of 35 km/h, for about 12 minutes. This flight is a part of a pilot project with the Croatian company AIR-RMLD which develops commercial and industrial services using drones. Drones have already proved their usefulness in crisis situations, for example, when medicine or antidotes needed to be delivered in hard to reach areas. Today, Croatian Post is testing smart solutions faster and more often than ever before – from augmented reality goggles, pallet-carrier robots to electric vehicles and drones. On the photo, the city of Dubrovnik seen by a drone.
Akiane Kramarik spirituality of painting
Akiane Kramarik: “…Realizing that nobody, except for my mother, cherished my work, I became more and more disillusioned. One time I threw my painting in the rain outside. And as it was landing into the puddle someone caught it. Just in time. It was my mother. Out of breath she shared something, ‘Last night I had a strange dream. I saw thousands of people waiting for your art. The line stretched all the way to the horizon.’ ” At the age of 4 she started dreaming about God, indicating that God inspired her to start painting and writing poetry about Him. She has dedicated her life to God and is focused on making the world a better place.
Bobby Fischer 0 – 1 Vladimir Kovacevic the only major defeat of Bobby Fischer in his chess career
In 1970, a chess tournament (Tournament of Peace) was organized in Croatia which took place in the town of Rovinj on the Adriatic Sea (Istrian peninsula). Fischer was undefeated in the previous four years. His defeat against Vladimir Kovačević, then a little known Croatian player, was a world wide sensation. Of course, despite this defeat, Fischer won the convincingly this trounament, which included 10 other grand-masters (including some of the best Soviet players). Vladimir Kovačević became international grand-master six years later, in 1976.
Nikola Tesla's schooling in Croatia lecture at the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in Paris 2020
AMCA-Paris (association of former students of Croatian universities, living in Paris), organized a lecture delivered at the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in Paris, dealing with the schooling of Nikola Tesla in Croatia during his formative years (from his 14th to 17 year). His most important professor from that period is Martin Sekulić, for who Tesla writes to be an ingenious man who enthused him for electricity. On the amusing photo from 1941 we can see Nikola Tesla (on the right, two years before his death) with Croatian-American boxer Fritzie Zivic, then the welter weight champion of the world. This is the only known photo on which Nikola Tesla smiles.
Croatia's silver medal at 2020 European Handball Championship big success
Croatian handball team has an amazing continuity of top results at European and World championships in the past decades. Congratulations to our team: Domagoj Duvnjak (on the photo, one of the best players today), Zlatko Horvat, Igor Karačić, Luka Cindrić, Željko Musa, Luka Stepanović, etc., under the baton of Lino Červar. Mr. Červar is the most successful coach in the history of Croatian handball. He guided our team to World Championship gold in 2003 and the Olympic title in 2005.
Ante Glibota's speech at the Symposium on Art organized in the Hofburg Imperial Palace in Vienna 2020
Ante Glibota: “I am delighted with this happy initiative coming from our friend Prof. Zhang Xiaolong, Vice President of National Academy of Art of China from Beijing, who is also an excellent artist and thinker, to organize in the heart of Central Europe, in Vienna, which was and always remains one of the essential centers of the great artistic, scientific and philosopher’s adventure of European civilization, this meeting between historians, artists and thinkers to briefly exchange ideas and reflections on the art and thought of these two major civilizations that are the millennial Chinese civilization and ours, European.”
Nikola Tesla's schooling in Croatia and his professor of physics Martin Sekulic
Here is Tesla’s description of Martin Sekulić, his professor of Physics at the Higher Real School in Rakovac (near the city of Karlovac in Croatia, when Tesla was at the age of 14-17): I had become intensely interested in electricity under the stimulating influence of my Professor of Physics, who was an ingenious man and often demonstrated the principles by apparatus of his own invention… It is impossible for me to convey an adequate idea of the intensity of feeling I experienced in witnessing his exhibitions of these mysterious phenomena. Every impression produced a thousand echoes in my mind… Source: Electrical Experimenter , New York, April 1919. Nikola Tesla’s live portrait by Croatian painter Ivan Benković, is on the left, shown for the first time to broad public.
Golden formula of Croatian language "ČA – KAJ – ŠTO"
The golden formula of the Croatian language “ČA – KAJ – ŠTO” is a Croatian intangible cultural asset listed on the List of Intangible Cultural Property of the Republic of Croatia in November 2019. The author, Dr Drago Štambuk, is proponent and author of the concept of preservation of knowledge and practices provided by the close connection of Croatian language. We also announce the Scientific Conference on Computer Linguistics and the Golden Formula of the Croatian Language, to be held on May 22 to 23, 2020 in the city of Osijek. On the photo is the Petris Glagolitic Miscellany from 1468, written in all three Croatian dialects: čakavian, kajkavian and štokavian.
Miro Gavran Croatian writer translated in Paris and Hong Kong 2020
Miro Gavran is the greatest contemporary Croatian playwright, translated to as many as 40 languages worldwide. Miro Gavran: ‘The Paris edition of my drama is a continuation of my rich cooperation with French translators, I had five premiers in Paris, and I also had seven books published in that extraordinary city. Regarding the Chinese publication of my comedy The Doll , I see it as a great acknowledgement to my theatre writing. So far only my novel How We Broke Our Legs was published in Beijing, and now they can finally get to know me as a dramatist.”
Yoko Nishii between the Dobro Restaurant in Tokyo and Tokamachi
By the end of 2019, distinguished Japanese pianist Yoko Nishii has visited the city of Tokamachi, which is the seat of “Croatia – Japan Friendship House”, completed in 2012. Except for having the purpose of cultural center, it also serves for preparations of Croatian sportsmen for the forthcoming 2020 Summer Olympic Games to be organized in Tokyo. Yoko Nishii has visited Tokamach for completing the material for her newest CD, which will contain pianistic works of Rachmaninov. She was surround by a small team of professionals, because everything had to be registered under the best acoustic conditions.
Mirko Novosel Croatian basketball trainer inducted to the Hall of Fame in the USA in 2007
Mirko Novosel, the greates Croatian basketball trainer in history, was inducted to the Hall of Fame in the USA in 2007. He had tremendous successes during the period of ex-Yu in establishing a very strong representation of the former state, which stopped the dominance of the Soviet basketball players, and was the only team that was able to cope with USA basketball teams at the Olympics and World championships. Among his pupils were such celebrities as Croatian players Dražen Petrović and Toni Kukoč. Under his guidance, Croatian national team won silver medal at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, in the finals against the USA Dream Team, led by Michael Jordan.
Kresimir Cosic 1948-1995 the first European basketball player with major career in the USA
Krešmir Ćosić (1948-1995) is one of the greatest Croatian basketball players in history. As a player of height 211 cm, he was equally successful on any of the five postitions in a team, a rare quality in 1970s. He has won gold medal at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, for the then ex-Yu (of which Croatia was one of six constituent republics). He also has gold medals from the 1970 and 1978 Basketball World Championships and many other trophies. Krešo always carried a bag of books with him… In 1990s, he worked in the United States as a diplomat (deputy ambassador) at the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in Washington, D.C. In 1996, he was posthumously inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame.