The Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) Symphony Orchestra

The Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) Symphony Orchestra is one of the oldest European radio orchestras: it grew out of an orchestra founded in 1929 for Radio-Zagreb, just six years after the foundation of the first European radio orchestra. It has borne its current title since 1991. Initially, it was tied exclusively to the radio programme, however it began to hold public performances in 1942. Live broadcasts of concerts and recording remain a component part of its work.

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The first public concert cycle with a live audience and radio broadcast was held at the Croatian Music Institute. Among the conductors of the time, the most common were Lovro von Matačić, Krešimir Baranović, Boris Papandopulo, Mladen Pozajić, Dragan Gürtl, and later Friedrich Zaun, Milan Sachs, Slavko Zlatić, Ferdinand Pomykalo... Of the post-war generation of conductors, those most tied to the work of the orchestra were Milan Horvat, Antonio Janigro, and Stjepan Šulek. In 1962, the position of chief conductor was introduced. The chief conductors were Pavle Dešpalj, Krešimir Šipuš, Josef Daniel, Oskar Danon, Milan Horvat, Uroš Lajovic, Vladimir Kranjčević, Nikša Bareza and Enrico Dindo. Pascal Rophé has held this position since the 2022/2023 season.

With a unique programme orientation, at the centre of which is the continuous performance and stimulation of works by Croatian authors as well as a repertoire of both standard and lesser-known works, the HRT Symphony Orchestra has become one of the key performing bodies in Croatia. Even during the Homeland War in the early 1990s, the orchestra held dozens of concerts in battlefields from Osijek, Pakrac, Lipik, Đakovo, Gospić, Vinkovci, and Bošnjaci to Šibenik, Zadar, Karlovac, and even Sarajevo. The orchestra regularly takes part in festivals and events such as the Zagreb Music Biennale, the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Osor Music Evenings, Music Evenings at St. Donat’s Church, educational concerts for children and youth in cooperation with Croatian Musical Youth (HGM), competitions for young musicians. Concerts with years-long subscription cycles, the independent Master’s cycle  and Kanconijer cycle  in cooperation with the Croatian Radiotelevision Choir, which hosts leading Croatian and international directors and soloists, are held at the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall and broadcast live on Croatian Radio’s Third Programme and Croatian Television’s Third Programme. A large number of audio and video recordings are stored in the Croatian Radiotelevision archives, which are available via the HRTi multimedia platform.

Some of the many conductors and soloists with whom the orchestra has worked are Igor Markevitch, Franz Konwitschny, Claudio Abbado, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Ernst Bour, Krzysztof Penderecki, André Navarra, Leonid Kogan, Henryk Szeryng, Aldo Ciccolini, Ruža Pospiš-Baldani, Dunja Vejzović, Dubravka Tomšič-Srebotnjak, Rudolf Klepač, Ivo Pogorelić, Vladimir Krpan, Mstislav Rostropovich, Maxim Fedotov, Edita Gruberova, José Carreras, Ruggero Raimondi, Barbara Hendricks, Luciano Pavarotti… In the past few seasons, guest conductors have included Ivo Lipanović, Aleksandar Marković, Valerij Poljanski, André de Ridder, Ivan Repušić, Johannes Kalitzke, Pascal Rophé, Stanislav Kochanovsky, Pierre-André Valade, Daniele Rustioni, John Axelrod…, and soloists have included Elina Garanča, Bryn Terfel, Piotr Beczala, Aleksandar Madžar, Ivo Pogorelić, Radovan Vlatković, Martina Filjak, Alexander Buzlov, Håkan Hardenberger, Roman Simović, Andrea Lucchesini, Aljoša Jurinić, Monika Leskovar, Petrit Çeku, Sharon Kam, Misha Maisky, José Cura, Beatrice Rana, Cameron Carpenter, Alexei Volodin, Benedetto Lupo, Maxim Rysanov, Asier Polo, Sergei Krylov, Massimo Quarta, Diana Damrau. 

The orchestra's discographic opus includes original albums by Croatian composers Stjepan Šulek, Milko Kelemen and Miro Belamarić, a series of CDs dedicated to the orchestra’s chief conductors, and the CD Donizetti Heroines  with Elena Moşuc, the Croatian Radiotelevision Choir and maestro Ivo Lipanović (Sony Classical, 2013).

Among the recent releases are recordings of the operas Ljubav i zloba (Love and Malice) and Porin  by Vatroslav Lisinski (2017) and Nikola Šubić Zrinjski  by Ivan Zajc (2018) as well as the albums Historic Concert 1916: a Century Later  (2021), Igor Kuljerić: Kanconijer  (2023) and Boris Papandopulo: Slavoslovije  (2023). This is joined by releases in the Ligatura edition (HRT & HDS/Cantus): Srećko Bradić  and Frano Parać: Carmina Krležiana & Missa Maruliana.

To celebrate its 80th anniversary, a monography on the work of the orchestra was published alongside a double-album including recordings of chief conductors Milan Horvat, Krešimir Šipuš, Josef Daniel, Pavle Dešpalj, Vladimir Kranjčević, Oskar Danon, Uroš Lajovic and Nikša Bareza. In June 2023, the HRT Symphony Orchestra performed at the Bozar Fine Arts Center in Brussels on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Republic of Croatia's membership in the European Union and Statehood Day. In August 2024, the orchestra performed at the prestigious Berlioz Festival in La Côte-Saint-André.

The HRT Symphony Orchestra won a Judita  award at the 59th Split Summer Festival (2013). At the 75th Dubrovnik Summer Festival in 2024, the Orchestra was awarded the Grand Prix Orlando in recognition of its special contribution to the realization of the entire program in one or more festival years.