The Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb is Croatia’s pre-eminent and oldest theatre, comprising three artistic ensembles: opera, drama and ballet. From the very beginning, the repertoire of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb was very rich and various including the world classics, national tradition and contemporary works. Even though it was basically founded as a national cultural centre, the Croatian National Theatre has never stayed closed within itself, but it readily accepted and created diverse cultural links, opening its space to all theatrical cultures and giving guest performances all around the world, from America, throughout Europe, to the Far East. In its 154 years of history, the Croatian National Theatre has given a pleiad  of the greatest artists and writers, actors and directors, set and costume designers, world famous opera and ballet principals, conductors and choreographers.

Every year, the theatre’s programme features at least twelve new productions and around twenty rerun productions, resulting in more than 220 performances per season.

As the leading national theatre in the country, the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb has a diverse programme that stages works by Croatian authors of different styles and eras, as well as classical and contemporary works from the world repertoire.

The Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb significantly contributes to the cultural life of the Croatian capital by broadening and attracting audiences that are increasingly diverse, with some performances sold out months in advance.

The Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb is part of the European organisations Opera Europa, the FEDORA platform and the European Theatre Convention.

Opera in two acts

Performance of Croatian National Theatre Zagreb

Conductor: by Nikša Bareza
Director: Krešimir Dolenčić.
Set and costume design: Simon Bejer (Australia)
Choreographer: Leo Mujić

Premiered at Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb on November 22nd 2018

The last opera by the genius composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is a remarkable work that unites all the best features of one of the greatest composers in history who in the form of fairy tales told the story of the struggle of good and evil, the victory of love and sincerity over intrigue, evil and death. The Magic Flute is one of the pinnacles of operatic art and is a challenge for both performers and the public.

Based on the German libretto of Emanuel Schikaneder, it was premiered on September 30th 1791 in Vienna, just two months before Mozart’s death.

The director – Krešimir Dolenčić, as a Fulbright scholar,taught acting to students of singing and graduate students at Rice University in Houston, after which he was invited to teach at the Trinity College of Music in London. He has directed 45 opera premières on the stages in Croatia, Slovenia, England, United States and China. In China, Shanghai (for Verdi’s year 2000.) and Beijing (for opening of Beijing festival 2003.) he directed the world biggest opera production ever since, Aida, with 2800 participants on stage, and cast from eight countries in the theatre-stadium for 55.000 people. Many of his opera works have been on the repertoire for several years, and some have been performed on the stages more than a hundred times in almost 20 years.

“Who was the best? Nobody! Everyone was the best. Indeed, you should see and hear the Zagreb Magic Flute, where everyone feels good, and the audience leaves lighted up. Rarity.” – Jutarnji list

Opera in two acts

Performance of Croatian National Theatre Zagreb

Stage director, set designer, costume designer: Pier Luigi Pizzi

Premiered at Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb on February 14th, 2020

At the heart of the opera is the quarrel between two well-known and influential families, Ashtons and Ravenswoods, whose mutual disputes take place in times of political turmoil and struggle for power.

The love of two youngsters from opposing families is driving a series of unlucky events that will eventually end in deaths of two lovers. Intrigues, false letters, doubts and rivalry are some of the exciting elements of Donizetti’s masterpiece.

The whole work exudes the virtuosity of the musical and vocal structure by places Donizetti among the greatest opera composers of the first half of the nineteenth century.

Pier Luigi Pizzi is an legendary italian set designer, director and costume designer born in Milan in 1930. Since 1951 he has worked as a set designer and costume designer, collaborating with drama and opera performances. Presented in the most important theaters and festivals of the world, he has received prestigious international awards, including the title of Officier des Arts et des Lettres in France, of the Great Official for the Merit of the Italian Republic and in 2006 by Commandeur de l’Ordre du Mérite Culturel , the highest honor in the cultural field of the Principality of Monaco.

Five fascinating human-sized puppets, a luminescent opera soprano, and a shadowy figure tell the tale of a world gone horribly wrong. A dramatically rendered, contemporary song-cycle imagines what little is left after an unavoidable global climate-catastrophe have struck in this sensual and moving puppet-dystopia.

Sew Flunk Fury Wit creates enigmatic music dramatic performances in a hard to categorize hybrid genre of hyper-surreal human sized neo-puppetry, poetic dramatic worlds and seductive soundscapes of new composed opera and electronica.

Opera in three acts

Performance of Croatian National Theatre Zagreb

The stage director: Andrea Cigni
Set designer: Dario Gessati
Costume designer: Valeria Donata Bettella
Light designer: Fiammetta Baldiserri

Performance of Croatian National Theatre Zagreb

The great Italian composer Giacomo Puccini wrote the opera Madama Butterfly at the end of 1903. He also recorded the time when he put off the pen: it was December 27, 1903, shortly before midnight. Although he believed in the success of the opera, at the premiere on February 17, 1904, in Milan Scala, at the end of the performance, there were numerous clerics and general disapproval.

But Puccini remained convinced of the quality of his work. The performance in Brescia in May 1904 gave him the right and then began the triumphal journey of this opera on the Italian and world stages.

After more than fifteen years of last production, this immortal opera comes back to the stage of the Croatian National Theater. It’s produced in co-production with Fondazione Arena di Verona.

Chief conductor of the theatre: Marcello Mottadelli

JUKU! is a funny family musical, with a libretto by Leelo Tungal, is based on the popular Estonian joke character Juku and focuses on the relationship between fathers and sons. The stage director is Andrus Vaarik, conductor Jüri-Ruut Kangur and mezzo-soprano Juuli Lill is in the title role.