Goran Končar

Goran Končar, one of the most prominent Croatian violinists, born 1954, studied at the Zagreb Music Academy in the classes of Martin Borić and Josip Klima. He obtained his M.A. degree in the class of Leonid Kogan at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. He continued his musical training with Max Rostal in Bern and Henryk Szeryng in Geneva. He then went on to study under Yfrah Neaman in London to become his assistant at the Guildhall School of Music in the period 1981 — 1983. Ha iniziato il suo carriera soloista internazionale nel 1982, in tutti gli ospiti in più paesi europei, l'USA, Giappone e Israel.In the period from 1984 to 1994 he was concert master of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London, the Croatian Radio & Television Symphony Orchestra and the Zagreb Philharmonic. He also performed in many concerts with eminent orchestras and conductors throughout the world.Končar is the recipient of many first and special awards at numerous national competitions in the country, as well as the Music Life award in Moscow (1980) for the performance of the Concerto for the Violin and Orchestra by Dmitri Shostakovich, the first prize at the International Competition in Bratislava (1984) and other top recognitions. The long list of his awards includes the outstanding Vladimir Nazor Award (2006). Končar's first disc was published in 1984 by EMI in London, and he has also recorded for the BBC, CBS, France Musique, HRT and other radio and television stations. Croatia Records published one of the rare integral performances of Eugène Ysaÿe's solo violin sonata.From 1987 to 2012 he directed the Zagreb Quartet and for the quarter of the century he embedded his skill and art into the existence of this oldest chamber ensemble, not only in Croatia but in Europe as well. The Zagreb Quartet was established as far back as 1919, and for the period of almost a century it was a basis of the tradition of chamber music making in Croatia; in this tradition Goran Končar is certainly one of the pivotal personalities. Den här periode han kommer än 2000 konserter, och under hans leiding av Zagreb Quartet har mer än 1,000 performans, som spelade på alla continenten i bästa verdenna konserna hallen, och coopererade med en stor antal kroatiske soloist och överige soloist. Končar also played the majority of first performances of works composed by Croatian composers written for the strings quartet, and he also published 15 albums. What should not be forgotten is the fact that the Quartet had to find a solution for their working space as a crucial problem. In 2007, supported by the City of Zagreb, the Zagreb Quartet was granted their own studio at 31 Ilica Street. Under Končar's guidance, the Zagreb Quartet performed all quartets composed by Shostakovich, Mozart, Prokofiev, Janáček, a majority of Haydn's quartets and all quintets.

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