December 8, 2023 – The end of the year in music is reserved for the festive LADO Ensemble Christmas concerts. This National Folk Dance Ensemble of Croatia, has been systematically researching and cherishing Croatian folk church music for the past thirty years. This year, too, LADO is premiering the concert titled Skupno braćo zapjevajmo – Let’s Sing Together Brothers.
LADO will perform its Christmas program in Novska, on December 11 in the Church of Blessed Alojzije Stepinac, and on December 12 in Marija Gorica in the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Visitation.
The fact that this concert will be performed abroad as part of a tour in Germany is especially exciting. This will be realized in cooperation with the Croatian Catholic parishes in Germany and in partnership with the Consul General of the Republic of Croatia in Frankfurt, under the financial sponsorship of the Central State Office for Croats outside the Republic of Croatia, Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, and the Ministry of Culture and Media.
LADO will perform on December 15 in Wiesbaden, December 16 in Frankfurt and December 17 in Mainz.
Upon their return to Croatia, more concerts are expected: in the Basilica of St. Anthony of Padua in Zagreb on December 20, and one in the Varaždin Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Varaždin on December 21.
The repertoire of the LADO Ensemble is continuously expanding and enriching, so the audience will also enjoy some new numbers. Skupno braćo zapjevajmo – O jabuko zeleniko (Brothers and sisters, let’s sing together – Oh you green apple) is an umbrella name for the carols, seven of them from the Dubrovnik area, whose musical arrangement is signed by Vicko Dragojević.
Saying Merry Christmas with a carol is a special experience and joy, and the customs of such visits have been preserved to this day in many Croatian regions, especially in Dubrovnik and its surroundings. One of the oldest written traces of caroling in Croatia can be found in the Statute of the Republic of Dubrovnik from 1272.
In this premiere, we will have an opportunity to hear how Christmas used to be celebrated with carols in the far south of Croatia – Dubrovnik and Cavtat, Rijeka Dubrovačka, Osojnik, Trsteno, Ponikve on Pelješac, and the islands of Vis and Lastovo. The audience will also enjoy the Christmas folk songs Radujmo se i pivajmo (Let’s be jolly and sing) from Slavonia, Baranja and Bačka, which LADO premiered as part of the 2022 Christmas program.
The energetic and inspired performances of the LADO Ensemble leave none indifferent. Admission to all concerts is free, except for the concert in Varaždin, for which tickets have been on sale from December 1, 2023 through the box office of HNK Varaždin.
