Music
Press
The Zagreb Guitar Quartet performed Bach’s The Art of Fugue in its entirety in Zagreb when I happened to be there, and it was one of the most extraordinary and vivid experiences including the guitar I can remember.
(Colin Cooper) - Classical Guitar Magazine
An extraordinary ensemble which captures with its outstanding performing technique, but also plays brought by sincere sentiments. - Dan, Montenegro
The rich tone, intense involvement and perfect coordination were brilliant.
The performances by the Zagreb Guitar Quartet mesmerized the audiences.
- Asian News International, India
There was enough musical excitement for half a dozen normal guitar recitals. It is a triumph, no less. It is difficult to imagine the work being played any other way.
This was one of those rare evenings of discovery and delight. Bach, Ante Cagalj and the Zagreb Guitar Quartet between them have contributed a magnificent new work to the guitar quartet repertory.
This arrangement brought out all the music, all the delight, all the fun, all the skill of a supreme master near the end of his working life.
Colin Cooper, Classical Guitar (UK), July 2001 (on the Quartet's performance of Die Kunst der Fuge) - Classical Guitar Magazine
I have never heard something so exciting - after their performance, all that one could do was to get out and scream: VIVA GUITARRA!
- Swiat Gitary, Poland
Discography
- CD: Da fuga a milonga (KDZ MIC, 2005)
- Bach: 8 Little Preludes and Fugues (EP released for digital distribution, 2007)
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Bio
"I have never heard something so exciting - after their performance, all that one could do was to get out and scream: VIVA GUITARRA!" said Swiat Gitary (Poland).
"One of the most extraordinary and vivid experiences including the guitar I can remember... Enough musical excitement for half a dozen normal guitar recitals." said the Classical Guitar Magazine (UK).
This experienced ensemble of young musicians has given a multitude of concerts on 4 continents: from Canada to India, from Russia to South Africa.
At the Varazdin Baroque Evenings in 1998, the Quartet won the Ivan Lukacic Award for the best performance of the festival. Two years later at this same festival, the Quartet treated the audience to the world premiere of Bach’s The Art of the Fugue arranged for four guitars.
The Quartet has mastered a huge repertoire ranging from Renaissance and Baroque masters to contemporary composers. It is not afraid to make excursions into jazz and other music, and has made brilliant arrangements of traditional compositions from the Croatian coast and mainland. The Zagreb Guitar Quartet members are also distinguished by the special attention they pay to living Croatian composers amongst whom 10 of them have dedicated original works to this artistically inquisitive ensemble.
The Zagreb Guitar Quartet was founded in 1990 by Ante Cagalj, one of the leading guitar teachers in Croatia. Cagalj assembled the Quartet from his students and he is still the ensemble’s artistic director. The Quartet’s current members are Tomislav Vasilj, Krunoslav Pehar, Melita Ivkovic and Mak Grgic.
In 2005 the Zagreb Guitar Quartet has released the CD Da fuga a milonga.
More on Zagreb Guitar Quartet at: http://www.guitar4.com
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