A special year deserves something truly special. Something big. Something unusual. Something new. In the first quarter of the year, the idea was developing. A wonderful idea about the concert. A bit unreal. And yet so real.
Will we succeed? Will we manage to fill all the seats of the Lisinski hall? It’s not a few seats. Are there enough people interested in this type of music? Sceptical thoughts from all sides. “Be happy if only half of the hall will be sold. That will be a great success…”, many said. We didn’t let ourselves be stopped. The idea was great, the implementation must be even better. The magical journey on endless melodious sounds began with that firm attitude. We’d be lying if we said it was easy. It was not. But that makes our success even sweeter. The accomplishment and pride even bigger.

At the moment when Željko Rupić climbed up the stage, and it was less than an hour after the victory of the Croatian football team over Brazil (which gave this jubilee celebration a special charm), the audience almost didn’t mind that the program was fifteen minutes late. It was crystal clear that there is a wonderful sky full of bright stars over the hall and it would soon sprinkle all its magic on the audience.

Impressions from the unforgettable humanitarian music concert held on December 9, 2022, in the large hall of the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall are still being settled. The concert gave an added value to the Advent atmosphere, creating melodies of pure holiday mood.

Music is a journey, and the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra under the bandmaster Ivo Lipanović, and along with the renowned vocalists of the Croatian music scene like Sandra Bagarić, Đani Stipaničev and Martina Tomčić, accompanied by the professor Darko Domitrović on the piano and the most famous Croatian cellist Ana Rucner, provided the audience with a two-hour voyage through the magic of sound. The Ivan Goran Kovačić Academic Choir sang with all their heart, spreading the goodness in memory of the character and work of Ivan Bulić.

In this pre-holiday time of togetherness, love and empathy that we share with each other, the story with a double charm has permeated the song – the one of the good spirits of the holiday and the other one of noble deeds of Ivan’s Foundation, such as supporting the excellence of young people, co-financing projects significant for the profession and society, and helping the neediest.

By buying a ticket at the price of HRK 100,00 everyone could become a part of this noble story, and the hall full of people confirmed how many good people there are around us.

This humanitarian concert, which was organized by the combined strengths of this year’s three jubilarians, delighted everyone present and confirmed that people always have an ear for good and beautiful stories.
In the background of every gift is love, and love is keeping us together and encourages us to grow! Everything will pass and we will forget most of it, but we will never forget how we felt at a special occasion, nor whether we managed to feel and transfer the touch of goodness to our beloved one. That is something we remember forever.