The first night of the musical and stage oratorio The Coronation of King Tomislav was held last night in the festive atmosphere of the Chapel of St. Nikola Tavelić in Tomislavgrad to mark the 1100th anniversary of the coronation of the first ruler with a royal title in this region. The additional symbolic value was added to the event by the fact that the year 2025 marked exactly one hundred years since the construction of the chapel, built in honour of the thousandth anniversary of the coronation.
This artistic evening brought together numerous guests, including the Federal Minister of Culture and Sports, Sanja Vlaisavljević, who addressed the audience with an inspired speech. In her address, she emphasized: “The scepter and the crown, full of history! How do nations enter history? European nations enter the mainstream of history with the coronations of their rulers in the Middle Ages! And to be at the place of coronation means to be at a place beyond time and human mortality […] May the voices of this oratorio never fall silent in us who witnessed this great prayer in the open air, because it is not just about the impressions of a musical ceremony.”
The oratorio is a work by composer Darko Domitrović and librettist Miro Gavran, directed by Robert Raponja. The author of the arrangement and conductor of the premiere was Igor Tatarević, and the performance was realized by the Croatian National Theatre of Mostar in co-production with the Croatian National Theatre of Zagreb and the Mostar Symphony Orchestra, in partnership with the Tomislavgrad Cultural and Information Centre.
