In the Cathedral of St. Anastasia in Zadar on 27. 5. 2025. starting at 8:00 pm, the sounds of the magnificent Eisenbarth cathedral organ were joined by the sounds of the trumpet at a festive concert. The organ was played by our welcome guest, Croatian organist and harpsichordist Prof. Pavao Mašić. Pavalo was joined on the trumpet by Vedran Kocelj, one of the leading Croatian trumpet artists and solo trumpeter of the HRT Symphony Orchestra.

The day of the consecration of the cathedral is a solemn day. The cathedral celebrates its birthday on the day of the consecration. This year we celebrated the 740th anniversary of the consecration of the cathedral. The Archbishop of Zadar, Lovro Periandar, consecrated it on May 27, 1285. On this occasion, a special concert was held in the cathedral. The performers performed a special program for the occasion. The month of May is also dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, in whose honor they performed the Hymn to the Virgin and Gregorian Variations on the "Salve Regina".

Vedran Kocelj (trumpet) and Pavao Mašić (organ) performed the following program of top French composers, which is an excellent fit for this organ:

Arthur Honneger (1982 – 1955)

Intrada

Olivier Messiaen (1908 – 1992)

Apparition de l'Eglise eternelle (Appearance of the Eternal Church)

Pierre Villette (1926 – 1998)

Hymne à la Vierge (Hymn to the Virgin)

 Arthur Honneger (1982 – 1955)

Three Psalms

Ps. 34 – Praise of Divine Justice (I Will Bless the Lord at All Times)

Ps. 140 – Prayer for Deliverance (Deliver me, O Lord, from the wicked man)

Ps. 138 – Song of Thanksgiving (I thank you, O Lord, with all my heart)

Francis Poulenc (1899–1963)

Priez pour paix (Pray for peace)

Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992)

Action des grâces (Thanksgiving)

Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992)

L'Ascension (The Ascension), four symphonic meditations

I. The majesty of Christ seeks his glory from his Father

II. The joyful hallelujah of the soul that longs for heaven

III. The joy of the soul before the glory of Christ that belongs to it

IV. Prayer of Christ ascending to his Father

Henri Tomasi (1901 – 1971)

Gregorian Variations on "Salve Regina"

Vedran Kocelj is one of the leading Croatian trumpet artists and the solo trumpeter of the Croatian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra. He graduated in trumpet in Ljubljana with Stanko Arnold. He has studied at master classes with John Wallace, Bo Nilson and Ed Carroll, and has also played in the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra under the direction of Pierre Boulez. He is often in demand for performances of repertoire from baroque to contemporary music. He regularly performs with the Cantus ensemble and the Croatian Baroque Ensemble, the Zagreb Soloists, the Croatian National Orchestra, as well as all major Croatian and foreign orchestras. He enjoys performing contemporary Croatian music, and his performances of Bjelinski, Papandopulo and Kelemen (whose Tromberija he premiered as a soloist) are highly regarded. As a soloist, he has performed at all major music festivals in Croatia: the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, the Varaždin Baroque Evenings, the Osor Music Evenings, the Music Evenings in St. Donatus and the Samobor Music Autumn. In recent decades, he has collaborated with organist Pavle Mašić in performances of the trumpet and organ repertoire, and they are joined by soprano Monika Cerovčec in the Seraphim Trio, with which they achieve notable concert performances with originally conceived programs. In 2024, he won the Porin discography award for the best performance of the Pop Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra recorded on a sound carrier with the HRT Symphony Orchestra and Pavle Zajcev, with whom he performed this work at several classical music festivals. He often performs with world-renowned trumpeters such as Stanko Arnold, Eric Aubier, Gábor Boldozcki and Reinhold Friedrich.

Pavao Mašić is the winner of the Grand Prix Bach and the Audience Award at the Bach Organ Competition in Lausanne (2006). He has developed a successful career as a concert organist and harpsichordist. As the chief organist of the Church of St. Mark in the Upper Town in Zagreb since 1999, Mašić continues the rich tradition of organ playing that has been continuously recorded in that historic church since 1359. He also works as a full professor at the Academy of Music in Zagreb, where he develops a wide range of pedagogical activities. He regularly gives concerts throughout South America, Russia, Europe and Israel, and the quality of his artistic work has been recognized with more than 35 important foreign and domestic awards. He has many significant performances behind him: Six Partitas, Goldberg Variations and The Art of Fugue by J. S. Bach, The Birth of the Lord by O. Messiaen, integral performances of the organ opuses of J. S. Bach, C. Franck and D. Buxtehude (in collaboration with Ante Knešaurek), concertos for organ and orchestra by Francis Poulenc, Ante Knešaurek, Stjepan Šulek and Silvij Foretić, as well as intensive work on the preparation and printing of the collected works for organ by Anđelko Klobučar and Franjo Dugan. He records for Croatian Radio and Television and Croatia Records; his diverse discography includes six solo albums awarded a total of 12 Porin awards, of which two albums: 1685 (2011) and Bach: The Art of Fugue (2017) were declared the best classical albums of the year.

We look forward to your arrival!