Programme:
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Symphony for Strings No. 10 in B minor, MWV N 10
Benjamin Britten: Simple Symphony, Op. 4
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 5 (arr. for string chamber orchestra by Sreten Krstić)
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Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Serenade for Strings in C major, Op. 48 

The Zagreb Soloists are one of the longest-established string chamber ensembles in central Europe. Formed as a performing ensemble of Radio Zagreb in 1953, they celebrated 70 years of uninterrupted activity last year. In that time they have given more than 4,000 concerts all over the world and recorded more than 70 albums. They have won all the most important national prizes and numerous international accolades. To play with the Zagreb Soloists is one of the greatest honours that can befall a Croatian musician and the ensemble’s concerts have become byword for performances of the very highest calibre.
The programme will open with two youthful works: Mendelssohn’s Symphony for Strings in B minor  is a display of the compositional mastery of the fourteen-year-old prodigy, while Britten’s Simple Symphony  is based on fragmentary ideas the composer sketched out as a child and then developed into a playful composition for strings at the age of 20.
Contrasting with this youthful elan, the programme will continue with two thoroughgoing masterpieces. Mahler’s Adagietto,  the fourth movement of his celebrated Fifth Symphony,  is a kind of love note dedicated to the composer’s wife Alma. One of the most recognisable pieces of music of the last century, it is frequently performed in concert as a stand-alone work. Tchaikovsky’s light-hearted Serenade for Strings in C major,  with its characteristically lilting melodies, is something of a touchstone for every string ensemble and has long been a constant of the concert programmes of the Zagreb Soloists.