LADO ENSEMBLE annual gala concert ‘Along the Drava River’

This year is the tenth anniversary of the passing away of Ivan Ivančan, PhD., and through this program the Ensemble is paying tribute to this long-time general manager and artistic director of the LADO Ensemble.Ivan Ivančan, PhD., together with Professor Zvonimir Ljevaković, certainly is an icon of the methodology of presenting folklore on stage as developed in Croatia, and as such mounted many of his choreographies for LADO, Croatia’s only professional folklore ensemble which is considered one of the five best of its kind in the world. In addition to his abundant artistic and choreographic opus, it is imperative to mention his impressive academic career during which he published twenty books in the field of traditional culture, as well as numerous articles in the field.

Alongside the choreographies which have been on LADO’s repertoire for decades, this season LADO is presenting choreographies by Ivan Ivančan, Ph.D. Performed by LADO for the first time. These are Ej, grišće plandovišće – Songs and Dances from Slavonia (premiere) When My Wedding Procession Wakes You Up – A Selection of Wedding Traditions from Baranja (premiere) and A Woman’s Will – Songs and Dances from the Posavina Region (premiere).
The musical element of the repertoire to pays homage to the icons of music who have worked with LADO, and they are Emil Cossetto, Božo Potočnik and Marijan Makar.