Rijeka 2020: Largest Culture Party in Europe Begins!

February 1, 2020 – The Rijeka 2020 morning programme kicked off the city’s European Capital of Culture events.

From the early morning hours, the streets of Rijeka have been in a festive and joyful mood, marking the start of the all-day culture party that includes more than 70 events at over 30 different locations. The event’s organization includes more than 40 different associations, entrepreneurs, artists’ organizations and numerous individuals. Today, Rijeka enters the year in which it will be the European Capital of Culture.

“We are proud that today Rijeka officially becomes the European Capital of Culture. All the citizens of Rijeka, regardless of age, along with the esteemed guests of Rijeka, will get a chance to enjoy truly varied cultural entertainment. While the morning hours have been dominated by dance, theatrical and musical performances along with performances by children’s choirs, vocal groups and dancers, the evening will be crowned by a central event that is going to take place at 7.30 p.m. under the title Opera Industriale. We are inviting all the citizens of Rijeka to come to the port, where they will also be able to participate in the programme“, said Emina Višnić, the CEO of Rijeka 2020.

Among the numerous programmes, one sold out days ago. This is the Anti-tourist Tour, a guided bus tour that is hosted by Rijeka actresses Tanja Smoje and Jelena Lopatić. Mayor of Rijeka Vojko Obersnel joined the passengers on the first tour that took place at 10 a.m. This hilariously intoned tour offers quite a unique view of Rijeka, that is also self-ironical and typical for Rijeka.

While some begun their morning with the Anti-tourist ride, the other joined a programme titled Rijeka, Steps and Time that took place in Rijeka’s main street of Korzo, where people walked through 116 years of Rijeka history, with the assistance of 232 meters long timeline. The magnificent building of Rijeka Fish Market found its place in the programme, as during the morning hours, it hosted a gig by Vocal Studio Rijeka.

A rich musical morning in Rijeka gathered all the generations. The pupils of Elementary School Vežica performed children’s songs, nursery rhymes and lullabies in many European languages, thus showing how . childhood in Port of Diversity looks. Mixed Choir of Rijeka Pensioners performed for passers-by in Kružna Street, under the lead of maestros Vinko Badjuk and Damir Badurina. The all-day plethora of evens was joined by The Association of Restaurants and Caterers of Primorsko-goranska County, which organized a programme in numerous cafes and squares in the centre, with musical performances, cocktails mixing spectacles and big-time entertainment.

The program continues throughout the day and night

It is expected that the audience that will follow the central programme of the opening of European Capital of Culture will start gathering from 7 p.m. in the Rijeka Port. Opera Industriale, beginning at 7.30 p.m., is based on the musical template of the Rijeka art duo JMZM – Josip Maršić i Zoran Medved, and on the orchestration of the Croatian composer Frano Đurović. The programme will bring the noise, city sounds, sounds of workers, sparks and light effects. It will be performed by more than 200 performers and involve a large part of the audience. The director of the central opening programme is Dalibor Matanić.

The space for the audience visiting Rijeka Port stretches to all piers in the port – Adamić Pier, De Franchesci Pier, Karolina Riječka Pier, Boduli Waterfront, and Molo longo. Those who want to participate in the performance should come to Molo longo, especially children with their parents, high school students and university students. They should arrive there already between 6 and 6.30 p.m. due to the limited capacity for the audience on Molo longo. On Molo longo, the audience will receive cowbells they will use to participate in defined moments during the performance. One part of Adamić Pier has been turned into a space where people with disabilities will be able to follow the program in a pleasant way. In order to avoid jams, it is highly recommended for them to arrive at the Port between 6 and 6.30 p.m.

Happiness, positive energy and party in Rijeka will last throughout the day. In the afternoon, there will be rock, pop, jazz and blues concerts, as well as DJ sets. The only break and rest will be during the one-hour Opera Industriale. Starting from 9 p.m. in the clubs and in the open, there will be performances of many bands – from Jonathan, Paraf, Fit, Denis&Denis, The Siids, Associations of Rijeka rockers from the 1960s and 1970s, and also Marko Tolja, Dule Bonaca, Šajeta and many others.

All programmes that will be running in Rijeka throughout the day are completely free for all visitors, and especially for this occasion, working hours of all bars, restaurants and clubs have been extended.

It is an excellent introduction into the programme of the European Capital of Culture 2020, which will feature more than 600 individual events. Over 300 organisations from Croatia and 40 European countries and the rest of the world have been involved in the organisation.

This opening program is all but a classical-style event. The essence of performance can be summed up as sound, music, and noise, along with the combined effects of light and darkness. By using strong symbols in the actual performance, Rijeka will pay homage to its workers who worked in port, shipyards, factories, who came here over the course of many centuries, who built this city. In this manner, workers have also built the city identity, which has then been recorded by the artists. Hence, this opening ceremony is also an ode to Rijeka’s artistic avant-garde and the traditions of the adjacent region. And, last but not least, Opera Industriale will remind us of all the founding social values upon which modern Europe was built.

PROGRAM

19:30

SHIP SIREN MARKS THE START; TURNING OFF THE LIGHTS; MAIN STAGE: ORCHESTRA; . LIGHT INSTALLATIONS: PIXEL ART + MIGRANT WAVES + SEAGULL – START; DANCERS BEGIN DANCING; A BOAT WITH NARRATOR BEGINS SAILING THROUGH THE PORT IN DIRECTION OF FRANCESCHI PIER

The narrator is Zoran Prodanović Prlja, a singer of Rijeka’s rock group Let 3, a band with a unique image and extraordinary texts as well as performances marked by specific humour and a feeling for the bizarre.

The orchestra consists of string and brass sections from the Croatian National Theatre Ivan pl. Zajc. Dancers are members of Flame, a group from Rijeka, and of Ana Maletić School for Contemporary Dance from Zagreb.

Scaffolding, wagons and cranes in Rijeka Port have been transformed into art installations and came to life with movement and light. For the sake of this occasion, a range of specially formed light installations have been set up across Rijeka Port

Seagull installation turned typical port cranes into a fascinating large-scale light sculpture, which celebrates the flight of a seagull as expression of freedom. As part of stage scenography an installation named Digital was set up on De Franchesci Pier, evoking industrial-technological heritage of Rijeka. Pixel Wall is a light installation in front of the Maritime and Passengers terminal building on Molo longo. It is an unusual videowall composed of pixels. Migrant Waves installation was set up in the extension of the breakwater and reminds that the port is a place of migrations, which is one of the central topics of the European Capital of Culture. It also symbolizes waves – sea waves and sound waves.

19:34 / 04:15

NARRATOR Zoran Prodanović Prlja ONTO DE FRANCESCHI PIER, APPROACHES THE CRANE, PICKS UP A GRINDER AND BEGINS WORKING – WORKERS APPROACH AND BEGIN WORKING, CLIMBERS BEGIN CLIMBING; CRANE: THE SOUND OF GRINDERS

The sounds of work, welders, sparks, and the noise of grinders that initiate the opening ceremony convey the message about the dignity and strength of workers in the life of a modern city.
These are the symbols of labour and workers who proudly built Rijeka, and by including the sound of working in the opening ceremony, Rijeka pays tribute and respect to the working class.

Performers in Opera Industriale are dressed in worn-out and new workers’ coats in different colours, mainly different shades of blue.

19:36 / 06:30

Zoran Prodanović Prlja INVITES THE AUDIENCE LOCATED ON MOLO LONGO AND EQUIPPED WITH COWBELLS TO JOIN GRINDERS; MOLO LONGO: AUDIENCE EQUIPPED WITH COWBELLS;

The entire zone around the port basin is intended for the audience, whereby the zone on the breakwater, Molo Longo, is also the zone for those who will take part in Opera Industriale. A special place is reserved for children with parents, young people, and many others who received cowbells at the entrance to the breakwater, which they will ring several times during the performance and thus participate in the program.

19:38 / 08:00

FIREWORKS APPEAR ON THE CRANE

19:38 / 08:37

MAIN STAGE: DB INDOŠ – CHILDREN ON INSTRUMENTS – SCHACHTOPHONES

Damir Bartol Indoš is a performer and visual artist who creates experimental music instruments, sound sculptures Schachtophones and graphic partitures. Schachtophones in Opera Industriale have graphic partitures and with their help, they produce sound and bring the intensity of verses by Janko Polić Kamov, a great writer from Rijeka. Kamov lived at the turn from the 19th to the 20th century and he was a writer who transcended physical boundaries of Rijeka and Croatia, but also artistic boundaries of Europe at the time, bringing it into the new age and upheaval, announcing European literary avant-garde. In this part of the programme the following verses will be performed:

“I was enraged at the noise made by the people beneath my window and I fell asleep again only when I found out those were the horses.”

They are part of notes/aphorisms entitled Acceni, published in 1913, three years after his death, in Italian magazine Lacerba.

19:43 / 12:40

MAIN STAGE: NARRATOR + ORCHESTRA + CHOIR; CHILDREN LEAVE THE MAIN STAGE

NARRATOR Zoran Prodanović Prlja narrates historical facts about Rijeka:

1230 The first mention of the city’s name: Saint Vitus’ Rijeka

1599 Venice attacks Rijeka with artillery due to Rijeka’s support to Uskoks

1659 Emperor Leopold issues two-headed eagle coat of arms to the city of Rijeka

1719 Rijeka was proclaimed Free Royal Port

1739 Public masquerade balls were prohibited due to the plague

1747 Rijeka was connected to Trieste and Vienna by stagecoach

1752 Sugar refinery was put into operation

1765 The first Rijeka’s theatre was built

1778 Traditional bull hunting through the city streets was abolished

1813 Karolina Belinić stopped the British fleet attack at the city

The reminders of interesting and turbulent history will be mentioned in several occasions during Opera Industriale.

19:43 / 13:00

MAIN STAGE: DB INDOŠ PERFORMANCE

Damir Bartol Indoš is the author of the mentioned Schachtophones, instruments for producing sound, based on the art of noise. The instrument is started by the opening of the manhole cover. Schachtophone boxes have a network of springs inside of them. Springs are started by opening cover and putting your hand in them or entering the manhole-boxes themselves.

Schachtophonia Notes for Kamov, by the authors Damir Bartol Indoš and Tanja Vrvilo, performed by The Rumourists: DB Indoš, Tanja Vrvilo, Ivan Bilosnić, Nino Prišuta, Ratko Danilović, Damir Prica Kafka, Ivana Pedljo, Lidija Šola, Jasmin Dasović (percussionists and performers on schachtophones, two vocalists, performers of the new circus, drum, bass guitar, electric guitar and a musician playing who plays prepared piano, saxophone and piano keyboards) as well as Children schachtophone orchestra, composed of eight students from Ivana Matetića Ronjgov Music School in Rijeka, under the mentorship of prof. Anita Primorac.

In this part the artists perform Kamov’s quote:

“At the moment of death there is no more exaltation, because death is the ultimate exaltation.“

19:43 / 13:35

FOLLOWING THE RHYTHM SET BY DB INDOŠ, BOATS ENTER THE PORT; INSTALLATION SEAGULLS ARE SET IN MOTION, IN ACCORD WITH THE RHYTHM

Small boats and vessels also participate in Opera Industriale. They joined the performance together with many other groups of citizens and inhabitants of Rijeka who will have a special role in the opening ceremony.

19:48 / 18:01

MAIN STAGE: NARRATOR + ORCHESTRA + CHOIR; FINNISH CHOIR ASSUMES POSITION ON A PLATFORM BENEATH THE MAIN STAGE

NARRATOR Zoran Prodanović Prlja articulates the following set of facts about Rijeka’s history:

1832 Composer Ivan Zajc was born

1833 Steam engine was put into operation at the Paper Factory

1836 Cholera epidemic breaks out in Rijeka

1849 People’s Reading Room Rijeka, that exists to this day, was founded during the Illyrian movement

1855 The old basin of the Rječina River becomes Dead Canal

1858 The first issues of the literary magazine „Neven“, the only one of the kind at the time of Bach’s absolutism in Croatia

1866 Luppis-Whitehead torpedo was successfully tested in the Rijeka Bay

1868 Rijeka becomes corpus separatum

1873 The first football match in Croatia was played, and the railway connected Rijeka with Budapest and Vienna

1883 Oil refinery was put into operation

1885 Rijeka gets lavish Municipal Theatre „Giuseppe Verdi“

1886 Janko Polić Kamov was born

1893 The first woman was employed at the Oil Refinery

1899 Electric tram sets off through the city, and opera conductor Lovro Matačić was born

1900 Advanced journalism visionary Frano Supilo launched the Novi list newspaper

1903 Regular shipping line Rijeka – New York started operating, the first synagogue of Rijeka was built, the city’s animal cemetery was opened

The choir of the opening of the European Capital of Culture led by Mixed Choir “Jeka Primorja” (“Echo of Primorje”) led by Igor Vlajnić take the stage. More than 40 members of the choir perform on the stage.

19:52 / 22:16

PLATFORM BENEATH THE MAIN STAGE: FINNISH CHOIR
Mieskuoro Huutajat (Men’s Choir The Shouters), from the Finnish city is one of the most unusual and longest-lasting icons of Finnish culture. Their singing resembles traditional
Maori war cries. In Opera Industriale, Mieskuoro Huutajat Choir performs with 23 singers. These unusual Finnish people will, in several sets, perform specific covers of anthems of the countries Rijeka existed under throughout the tumultuous 20th century: Hungary, Austria, Italy, the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Germany, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and in the end the Croatian anthem Our Beautiful Homeland and Ode to Joy (German: An die Freude) as the anthem of the European Union. In this part of the performance the Pixel Wall displays in loop the following text:

BUDAPEST

VIENNA

The choir performs Hungarian and Austrian anthems.

19:53 / 23:48

MAIN STAGE: NARRATOR + ORCHESTRA + CHOIR; VISUAL REPRESENTATION OF SEAGULL INSTALLATION DOMINATES THE PORT; FINNISH CHOIR CLIMBS UPON THE MAIN STAGE

NARRATOR Zoran Prodanović Prlja:

1912 The Carpathia steamship, sailing on its regular line from Rijeka to New York, receives the SOS signal and rescues Titanic survivors

1913 Kantrida stadium opened

1919 Gabrielle D’Annunzio enters the city

1920 The Free State of Fiume was established under the Treaty of Rapallo

1921 Gabrielle D’Annunzio leaves the city

1924 Border wall between the kingdoms of Italy and Yugoslavia was erected, separating Rijeka and Sušak

1940 Benito Mussolini’s yacht was launched at Rijeka’s shipyard

1942 Rijeka’s Skyscraper was completed, supposedly funded by Marco de Albori, Al Capone’s accountant

1943 German army occupied the city after the surrender of Italy

1944 The Allies bombard the occupied Rijeka

1945 Yugoslav Army frees Rijeka from fascists during the Battle of Rijeka

1947 The Paris Peace Treaty transferred Rijeka to Yugoslavia

1948 Rijeka and Sušak reunited

1951 Trolleybuses introduced as the city’s means of transport, and famous conductor Vjekoslav Šutej was born

1955 Ante Babaja wins Golden Arena for the direction of his documentary “Jedan dan u Rijeci” (A Day in Rijeka), the Liberation Monument was erected, and the Faculty of Medicine was established

19:57 / 27:08

MAIN STAGE: FINNISH CHOIR

Since the establishment of Mieskuoro Huutajat (Men’s Choir The Shouters) in 1987, hundreds of men passed through the choir of 30 voices, surprising the audience across the world. Let by conductor Petri Sirviö, the choir is best known for their loud renditions of Finnish patriotic songs but have also performed foreign tunes such as “The Star-Spangled Banner”. They come from the Finnish city Oulu, a candidate for the European Capital of Culture 2026. Huutajat is a choir that does not follow the musical notes but shouts. Twenty well-dressed men in a military manner scream, rattle and shout anthems and similar texts, and they performed on world stages and events, such as the Royal Festival Hall in London or the Venice Biennale, but also on squares and streets in many European cities.

In this set the Finnish choir performs the anthems of the following countries: Italy, the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Germany, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Pixel Wall displays in loop the following text:

FIAT 500, ALFA ROMEO, VW BUBA, GOLF 1, YUGO 45, ZASTAVA 101

19:59 / 29:10

NARRATOR DRAWS ATTENTION TOWARDS DRUMMERS; MALL RI: DRUMMERS

As part of Opera industrial, 10 drummers will perform on the roof of Mall Ri. The drummers are from RiRock Association:

Vinko Golembiowski (UMA)
Saša Vukosav (ex Father)
Goran Grgurev (God hates a coward)
Mateo Rožić (Zenoth / Hand of Apollo)
Igor Klanfar (Kraj Programa / Mburns)
Kristian Kirinčić (Fanaa)
Vanja Kauzlarić (Pachamam Street Conection/Officer Down)
Stefan Drmač (Media Effect /Johnny Quid)
Tihomir Kešelj (Obrazovni Program)
Karlo Mihelčić (Fanaa)

Together with guitarists, who will perform later on, these drummers bring the propulsive energy of Rijeka punk and rock.

The Pixel Wall displays in loop the following text:
DRUMS, PLEASE

20:00 / 30:10

Zoran Prodanović Prlja INVITES THE AUDIENCE EQUIPPED WITH COWBELLS, STANDING AT MOLO LOGO, TO JOIN THE DRUMMERS; AUDIENCE EQUIPPED WITH COWBELLS ON MOLO LONGO

The Pixel Wall displays in loop the following text:
COWBELLS, DRUMS

20:01 / 31:09

MAIN STAGE: NARRATOR + ORCHESTRA + CHOIR; ON THE CRANE – WORKERS AND CLIMBERS WORK

NARRATOR Zoran Prodanović Prlja:

1957 Husar Rock Club was opened

1959 Che Guevara visits Rijeka and the 3d May Shipyard as a member of Cuban delegation

1960 The rock-band Uragani was founded, and the Puppet Theatre opened

1965 Lemmy Kilmister performed with his first band in Rijeka

1966 Youth Club, later named Palach, started working

1967 The creation of the character of Professor Baltazar, and the Baltazar-City where he lives was inspired by the urban look of Rijeka

1971 The first kidney transplant in the country, performed at the KBC Rijeka Hospital. The same year 78 people died in an airplane crash at the airport on the Krk island.

1975 Twin skyscrapers with 30 floors were built in Turnić. They remain the highest residential skyscrapers in the country.

1976 – on 10 March, to be precise, Rijeka had the highest daily snowfall, the record of 52 centimeters of snow, unprecedented to this day

1977 The first performance of the punk trio Paraf, and Takazumi Katayama set the record of the Preluk motorsport circuit, averaging 162 km/h

20:03 / 33:16

MAIN STAGE: FINNISH CHOIR

In this part, Mieskuoro Huutajat (Men’s Choir The Shouters) perform the Croatian anthem Our Beautiful Homeland and Ode to Joy (German: An die Freude) as the anthem of the European Union.

With the previous three sets in Opera Industriale and this last one, they brought the reminder that Rijeka is a city used to changes, considering that, throughout its history, it has very often changed countries under which it existed. They performed anthems as symbols of the states Rijeka belonged to in the last one hundred years.

The Pixel Wall displays in loop the following text:

LIJEPA NAŠA; BEETHOVEN; MIHANOVIĆ; EU

(translation: OUR BEAUTIFUL HOMELAND; BEETHOVEN; MIHANOVIĆ; EU)

20:05 / 35:18

MAIN STAGE: DB INDOŠ

The third set by Rumourist and DB Indoš brings Kamov’s verses:

“I cannot imagine anything madder than our life, our country, us people and our perception of this madness”

Precisely at 20:20 the Pixel Wall displays in loop the following text:

20:20

2020

20:10 / 40:08

MAIN STAGE: NARRATOR + ORCHESTRA + CHOIR

GUITARISTS ASSUME POSITION ON MAIN STAGE
The Pixel Wall displays in loop the words which will be understood by inhabitants of Rijeka and Rijeka region; dialect, jargon from Rijeka area:

KACOT, BALINJERA, PUNJETA, BETON, VEŽICA, ČA JE ČA!, KANOTJERA, KAPO MAKINE, CAMPETTO, KONTEJNER, PRUGA, KANTRIDA, BURA, SVJETIONIK, KRPENJAČA, BARBA, SILOS, LUČKI RADNIK, PUNK, LAZARET, KORZO, DIVOJKE, KONT, KREPAT!, ŠKVER, NE MOLAT!, ORIJENT, MURVA, PRIŠLIĆ, ČIGOV SI?, NEVERA, MRTVI KANAL

NARRATOR Zoran Prodanović Prlja speaks:

1984 Football club NK Rijeka beats Real Madrid with 3:1 at the Kantrida stadium

1987 3rd May Shipyard has 7.061 employees

1991 Hartera produces as high as 5% of the total world cigarette paper. 89 percent of inhabitants of Rijeka vote yes to the independence of Croatia on the referendum. Rijeka brigades of Croatian Army are formed with the goal of defending the country

2003 Pope John Paul II spent five days in Rijeka

2013 Rijeka Islamic Center inaugurated, considered to be the most beautiful in Europe

2016 University Campus on Trsat was inaugurated

2017 Football Club Rijeka becomes the champion of the Croatian League

2017 The Modern and Contemporary Art Museum moved into new premises in the Benčić Complex

2020 Rijeka becomes European Capital of Culture

20:12 / 42:04

MAIN STAGE: GUITARISTS
The power of sound of electric guitars and the rhythm of drums which has already resounded in Opera Industriale are the reminders of rebellious and brave Rijeka. During socialism, at the end of the 1970s and the beginning of 1980s, this sound resonated in the Southeast Europe and spread the word about progressive Rijeka. 20 guitarists from Rijeka are on the stage:

Dražen Baljak and Matej Zec (Let 3)
Vlado Simcich Vava (ex Laufer / Turisti)
Tomislav Radinović and Darko Petković (Jonathan)
Luka Benčić and Matko Botić (My Buddy Moose)
Davor Tomić (Father)
Vedran Vučković (Nord / Gerila)
Karlo Horvat and Rade Malobabić (Kryn)
Darko Terlević (The Siids)
Vladimir Tomić (Moskva)
Ilir Domnik (ex Družba bijesnih lisica / solo artist)
Andreas Kornjača (Fanaa)
Zlatko Štefančić (Zenoth)
Davor Margan (Lost Lucid)
Borna Žderic (Mamut)
Matej and Ivan Hanžek (Old Night)

The city whose history was crisscrossed by borders became open precisely because it learned how to transcend, ignore and move them. Creative energy and power of artists reflected resistance even at times when freedom of creation was not implied, when some tried to put art into the mold of “correctness” and to prescribe its objectives. Based on this resistance and orientation towards the Western European cultural sphere, arose the propulsive energy of Rijeka punk and rock. This is the moment in which guitarists from Rijeka symbolise this part of the identity of Rijeka.

The Pixel Wall displays in loop the following text:

RIJEKA

EPK

2020

(translation:

RIJEKA

ECoC

2020)

20:13 / 43:22

MAIN STAGE: NARRATOR + ORCHESTRA + CHOIR + DB INDOŠ + FINNISH CHOIR
MALL RI: DRUMMERS JOIN THE PERFORMANCE; CRANES: WORKERS AND CLIMBERS POUND ON, FOLLOWING THE RHYTHM

“O BELLA CIAO” song begins:

Una mattina mi son svegliato

O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao

Una mattina mi son svegliato

Eo ho trovato l’invasor

O partigiano porta mi via

O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao

O partigiano porta mi via

Che mi sento di morir

E se io muoio da partigiano

O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao

E se io muoio da partigiano

Tu mi devi seppellir

Mi seppellire lassù in montagna

O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao

Mi seppellire lassù in montagna

Sotto l’ombra di un bel fiore

E le genti che passeranno

O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao

E le genti che passeranno

Mi diranno: “Che bel fior”

È questo il fiore del partigiano

O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao

È questo il fiore del partigiano

Morto per la libertà

(English translation:

One fine morning I woke up early