The Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) Tamburitza Orchestra
Tamburaški orkestar HRT-a
The Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) Tamburitza Orchestra was established in 1941 under the name Tamburitza Choir as an ensemble performing traditional music, producing exclusively radio program. Ever since then the Orchestra has been presenting Croatian folk music in the Radio and Television broadcasts. A large part of the program comprises concert works written for tamburitza.
Hrvatska radiotelevizija
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The Orchestra’s first conductors were Josip Stojanović, Vladimir Mutak, Željko Brkanović and Zlatko Černjul, and for nearly four decades, from 1985 to 2022, its leader was Siniša Leopold. Although there had been occasional public performances even before his arrival, for instance, at the festivals in Krapina and Požega, it was due to Siniša Leopold’s efforts that the ensemble left the studio and started performing in front of an audience on a permanent basis. From performances on the front lines in the early 1990s through extensive tours abroad (South America, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, USA, Canada, China) to today’s permanent concert series U ozračju tambure (since 2002), New Year’s concerts Valceri, polke i druge špelancije and regular charity concerts, the HRT Tamburitza Orchestra had a major role in promoting tamburitza and tamburitza playing, whose both musical and cultural value have been recognized world over.

The Orchestra’s performances, permanently preserved on valuable recordings in HRT’s audio library, reflect all the changes the tamburitza went through from a folk instrument to an artistic musical instrument of exceptional possibilities. Concurrent with its stage performances, the Orchestra’s repertoire has also been greatly expanded. In addition to the original compositions, it also plays jazz, classical, film, pop and light orchestral music arranged for tamburitzas, encouraging Croatian composers to write new works and performers of various styles to collaborate.

In 2011, the Croatian Composers’ Society honored the HRT Tamburitza Orchestra with the Vatroslav Lisinski Award for outstanding contribution to Croatian music during the seventy years of its activity. The Orchestra is also very active in the field of discography. In 2012, its album Seven Decades;1941-2011:Croatian Composers in the Atmosphere of the Tamburitza won the Porin Award for the best tamburitza music album. The albums Pozdrav Zagorju (2016), recorded with Kvartet Gubec, and Siniša Leopold and the HRT Tamburitza Orchestra (2017) also won Porin Awards in the same category. In 2020, the Porin Award was given for the album Kajkavski biseri, which the HRT Tamburitza Orchestra and Maestro Siniša Leopold made with Bojan Jambrošić. The most recent album is Kolendo, kolendo, veselo, veselo, with vocal ensemble (klapa) Kaše (Scardona, HRT, 2023).

As of the 2023/2024 season, the Artistic Director of the HRT Tamburitza Orchestra is Matija Fortuna.