Founded in 1953, Zagreb Soloists are one of Europe’s most distinguished chamber string ensembles, having performed over 5,000 concerts on all continents, from Carnegie Hall (New York) and the Musikverein (Vienna) to the Sydney Opera House and Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires).
Over the decades, they have had the privilege of performing alongside some of the greatest names in classical music, including Henryk Szeryng, Alfred Brendel, Pierre Fournier, James Galway, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Katia Ricciarelli, Mario Brunello, Ray Chen, and many others.
The ensemble has been regular guests at the world’s most prestigious festivals, including Salzburg, Edinburgh, Berlin, Prague, Barcelona, and Istanbul, and have released over seventy recordings for labels including EMI, Vanguard, and ASV.
The ensemble has recorded more than seventy recordings
The Zagreb soloists perform a repertoire that includes baroque, classical, romantic, and contemporary music, with special attention focused on the actualization of earlier works, as well as the presentation of younger generations of Croatian composers.
Since 2025, the Ensemble has welcomed Guy Braunstein, longtime concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic, as its permanent guest concertmaster.
The Zagreb Soloists are now in their 73rd season and have given close to 4,000 concerts across every continent, regularly performing in the world's most celebrated halls: in recent seasons the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Palace of Versailles and, last season, the Musikverein in Vienna.
AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS:
Zagreb soloists have been awarded many high awards and recognitions, among which stand out: the first prize in Mar del Plata (for the album Concerts of the 18th century), the Pablo Casals Medal, the Elisabeth Sprague Coolidge Medal (for performance contemporary music), Vladimir Nazor, Milka Trnina, Josip Štolcer Slavenski awards for the best performance of a work by a Croatian composer; then the Ivan Lukačić and Jurica Murai awards of the Varaždin Baroque Evenings, Villa Manin, UNESCO, Zagreb City Award, Croatia Records Silver Compact Disc, Order of Merit of the People with Silver Rays, City of Zagreb Plaque, several Croatian Porin discography awards (in 1994 for life’s work), Silver Plaque of the Croatian Musical Youth and numerous others.
During the Homeland War, the Zagreb soloists held around seventy charity concerts (for the city of Dubrovnik, for the destroyed music schools in Croatia, the demolished HNK building in Osijek, the Zagreb Children’s Hospital, for numerous destroyed Croatian monuments, etc.), and they also performed a large number of festive concerts on the occasion of the presentation of the new Croatian state. In 2010, the Ensemble was awarded the Orlando Grand Prix award for special artistic contributions to the overall program of the Dubrovnik Summer Games.
PAST PERFORMANCES:
Besides Croatia, Zagreb Soloists also gave concerts in various countries including Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Germany, Italy, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Türkiye, UK and the US.
Besides Croatia, Zagreb Soloists also gave concerts in various countries including Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Germany, Italy, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Türkiye, UK and the US.
SELECTED REVIEWS:
