RENATA POKUPIĆ – mezzo-soprano
Mezzosoprano Renata Pokupić, renowned for her stylishly impeccable and deeply expressive interpretation is sought after by leading opera houses and orchestras. She has been performing at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Wigmore Hall, the Albert Hall, the Barbican and the Royal Festival Hall in London, at the London Handel Festival, during BBC Proms. Her conce
rts have been broadcasted and has been invited to the programmes of famous BBC Radio 3. She has performed in Paris at Salle Gaveau and Salle Cortot, at numerous festivals throughout France such as the Festival Saint-Denis, at Opera Chatellet, and opera houses in Lille, Lyon, Strasbourg, at the Beaune Festival. She performed in several productions of Flamish Opera in Belgium and Spain has seen her at the Royal Opera in Madrid and during international festivals. She has been performing in Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Australia, as well as opera houses in the United States, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington. Among the orchestras and ensembles Renata Pokupić performs with are Symphony Orchestra of Melbourne, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Collegium Vocale Ghent, German Symphony Orchestra from Berlin, Champs-Elysees Orchestra, Esterhaza Chapel, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Le Cercle de l'Harmonie, Bach Choir from London, Academy of Ancient Music, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Paris Chamber Orchestra, Le Concert D'Astrée, Ensemble Matheus, Accentus, Orchestra Insula, Beethoven Orchestra from Bonna, Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Les Talens Lyriques, Sinfonietta Cracovia, Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra and many others. Renata Pokupić performs with leading conductors including Laurence Equilbey, Kurt Masur, Kazushi Ono, Kent Nagano, Ingo Metzmacher, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Louis Langreé, Fabio Biondi, John Eliot Gardiner, William Christie, Paul McCreesh, Jérémie Rhorer, Emmauelle Haïm , Christophe Rousset, Carlo Rizzi, Jean-Christoph Spinosi, Laurence Cummings, Christian Curnyn. She traveled the world in a lied duo with pianist Roger Vignoles and recorded songs from Czech composer Tomašek with him. Her interpretations can be found on over ten recordings, and on numerous recordings for radio and television in Croatia, UK, France, Germany and other countries, as well as the arts channels Arte and Mezzo. Pokupić appeared also in an internationally multi-awarded Croatian film All the Best by Snjezana Tribuson. Her acting was appreciated among the film industry professionals and the audience so much that Pokupić was awarded at the Pula Film Festival with the Best Debut Award named Breza in 2016. In Croatia, Pokupić collaborates with pianist Renata Hil, HRT Symphony Orchestra, Dubrovnik Festival and occasionally holds seminars at the Music Academy Zagreb, where she graduated from Zdenka Žabčić's class. After that she had been attending seminars with Dunja Vejzović and Eva Blahova. Renata Pokupić holds numerous home and international awards for artistic excellence and Croatian Republic decoration Order of the Croatian Daystar Danica with portrait of Marko Marulić for outstanding achievements in culture. RENATA HIL - piano
Pianist Renata Hil was born in Split where she attended Music School of Josip Hatze in the class of Olga Račić. She graduated from Art Academy in Novi Sad where she studied with Jokuthon Mihajlović and Kemal Gekić. She furthered her studies at Mozarteum in Salzburg where she studied piano with Karl-Heinz Kaemmerling and chamber music with Erike Frieser. During her schooling, she had been attending seminars with renowned piano pedagogue Arba Valdma and masterclasses in piano collaboration in solo songs with Konrad Richter and Dunja Vejzović. Since her youth, Renata Hil has been performing as a soloist and chamber musician in Croatia and abroad, and making numerous recordings for radio and television. Renata Hil has been collaborating with numerous international seminars and competitions such as Aestas Musica in Varaždin, Luka Sorkočević and Laus in Dubrovnik, Uzmah on Hvar, Korčula and Brač, Jeunesses Musicales Croatia Music Camp Groznjan seminars held by Anđelko Krpan (violin), Miho Karuza (violoncello) and Milan Čunko (Viola), Pro Musica in Opatija and Lošinj, International Musical Academy in Liechtenstein, International competitions Rudolf Matz and Antonio Janigro in Porec and Papandopulo in Zagreb. She works as a Senior Associate at the Music Acedemy Zagreb and works with numerous artists including mezzo-soprano Renata Pokupić and violinist Anđelko Krpan. JMS was founded in 1970, and operates independently within Jeunesses Musicales Croatia (JMC) – Croatian Music Youth. It is a member of Jeunesses Musicales International (JMI), the International Youth Music Organization, the largest non-governmental organization that originated in Belgium in 1945. JMI AND JMS MISSION: to enable young people across borders to develop through music. The core activity of JMS is to promote young musicians and educate young audiences from pre-school age, through elementary and high school, until the end of college education, when theatrical performances and concerts become an integral part of their life needs. Although the emphasis of our activity is on classical, art music, we encourage all styles and types of music, individual and group music, and our goal is to preserve the tradition and heritage we care about, by education through a variety of animation and pedagogical programs. We provide children and young people with experience of beauty of theatre and music from the first theatre rows and to learn about audience customs. Creative expression is particularly important in the development of a child, so JMS wants to provide a place where they can express their ideas and talents through a variety of projects. In this way, children and young people experience also what it means to be a performer, so that they can experience that a great amount of personal involvement is needed for a creation of an artistic performance. As a part of the international organization JMI, some projects enable intercultural exchange, which is always extremely enriching. We promote diversity and equality in every sense and always exclude addiction, racism, sexism and intolerance, aiming to raise awareness among children and young people about those issues by educating them through performances and concerts. On our site we also inform about regional, national and international programmes organised by JMC and JMI, inviting children and young people to participate in them. Our doors are always open to all music, theatres and dance lovers! We also aim to provide a work experience for young people, and the Musical Youth Split can be joined by volunteer work, thus providing them with organizational, production and PR skills and experience. In addition to concerts and theatre performances, we also organize a pre-selection competition for Imagine Festival Croatia, Pedagogical-Animation Programmes, Youth Cultural and Art Games (eg Smotra), for which we have been gathering young people since over 40 years from all over Croatia and abroad, and the International Choir Festival “Cro Patria”, which celebrated its 20th edition in 2016. Young Musicians’ Concerts Vinko Lesić, Dancing Flutes and International Vocal Seminars are among events that became traditional. We also launched the project Music Helps from 2016 in cooperation with the Educational Institution for Children with Special Needs “Juraj Bonaći” and Children’s Home without adequate parental care “Maestral” in Split. A prominent place in our activities belongs to Ballet Studio JMS, which has been existing for 30 years. For the year 2017, various co-operation and guest tours of eminent musicians and educational institutions have been planned. We organise 100 different programs annually: concerts, performances, competitions, lectures, seminars, etc. with 4,000 performers, mostly children and young musicians, with an audience of over 20,000. We work in the area of the City of Split, as well as the entire Split-Dalmatia County, and we cooperate with the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports, the Croatian Society of Composers, the Society of Croatian Writers, the Tourist Board of the City of Split and the County, etc. JMS is an Organization of Special Importance For the city of Split and funds for regular business are provided in the budget of the Split Municipality. Musical Youth Split received numerous awards for its achievements and work: as the organizer of the International Choir Festival, Cro Patria it received the highest professional awards, the Vatroslav Lisinski Award by Croatian Composers’ Association for the Promotion of Quality Music among Young People and the EFFE Award – Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe – For 2015/16. It is the award by which the European Association of Festivals guarantees the quality of content for that year; In 2004, JMS received the Awards from the City of Split and the Split-Dalmatia County for the achievements in promoting musicians and promoting music to children and youth. We proudly point out that in November 2016, on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of JMS, the Republic of Croatia awarded the State Award for outstanding achievements in the promotion, preservation and development of music culture among young people and the promotion of young musicians in the Republic of Croatia and in the world.
