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Zagreb Opera Festival returns with 30+ events and international stars - by croatiaweek - in Entertainment ZAGREB, 22 Aug (Hina) – Verdi’s Aida, an international co-production by the Croatian National Theatre (HNK) in Zagreb, Teatro Massimo in Palermo and Csokonai National Theatre in Debrecen, will open the fourth Zagreb Opera Festival on 11 September. Running until 20 September, the festival will feature more than 30 events across three Zagreb venues. The programme includes opera performances, concerts, European guest companies and children’s programmes. Aida will be conducted by HNK Zagreb Opera chief conductor Piero Giorgio Morandi and directed by Mario Pontiggia, with Italian tenor Stefano La Colla as Radamès. Over four years, the festival has attracted more than 20,000 spectators and brought together more than 1,500 artists, while continuing to develop international partnerships and bring opera closer to audiences, said HNK Zagreb director Iva Hraste Sočo. The programme includes Borna Erceg’s children’s opera Gita and the Hidden World, created with Mala Scena Theatre, and French company Compagnie Minute Papillon’s The Cook Opera! on 12 September. The following day, HNK2 will host the inaugural concert of the Dunja Vejzović Music Centre, featuring leading opera soloists and the Croatian Radiotelevision Symphony Orchestra conducted by Valentin Egel. The Polish Royal Opera from Warsaw will perform Rossini’s The Italian Girl in Algiers on 14 September, conducted by Dawid Runtz and directed by Jitka Stokalska. HNK2 will present John Blow’s Baroque opera Venus and Adonis on 15 September, with Spanish ensemble Cantoría, the Croatian Baroque Ensemble and Chamber Choir under Jorge Losana, and mezzo-soprano Lucija Varšić in the title role. Other events include Opera 65+ concerts, an international audience-development forum, the Green Culture conference, and presentations of a recording and three books. On 17 September, the Slovene National Theatre Maribor will perform Delibes’s Lakmé, conducted by Mojca Lavrenčič and directed by Pier Francesco Maestrini. The festival will close on 20 September with a gala concert featuring tenor Piotr Beczała and soprano Marigona Qerkezi, accompanied by HNK Zagreb Opera soloists and orchestra under Morandi. The concert will also be screened at Festival Square outside the HNK. A new Zinka Kunc Milanov Audience Award will go to the visiting production with the highest audience rating, with the winner announced the following day.