Russian cellist Dmitry Prokofiev to perform tonight
Russian cellist Dmitry Prokofiev will perform for the first time with the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra tonight, May 2nd, at the terrace of Museum of Modern Art Dubrovnik. The orchestra will be conducted by Israeli conductor Noam Zur, and the start of the concert is scheduled at 9 pm.
The young cello player is the winner of numerous international youth competitions and other international competitions such as A. Tansman (Poland 1998), P. Tchaikovsky (Russia 2002), A. Janigro (Croatia 2008). He’s been performing since he was 10. His solo recitals have been held in many cities of Russia and around the world in prestigious halls such as the Paris Auditorium du Louvre and Rudolfinum in Prague. Dmitry Prokofiev recorded his first CD at age of 16 with professor of Moscow Conservatory Alexey Nasedkin (cello and piano sonatas - D. Šostakovič and E. Grieg), and in 2004 he released a CD with Alexander Kobrin.
At the concert with the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, he will perform one of the hardest works for the cello: Rococo variations in A major, op. 33 P.I. Tchaikovsky, in its original form. In the rest of the concert, the audience will have the opportunity to hear some of the most beautiful opera overtures by Mr. Rossini, J. Strauss, A. Ponchielli, H. Berlioz, P. Mascagni and other composers.
How would you brand Croatia ? as a dragon?
Branding is an important part of any business, get the right brand and your company will flourish, pick the wrong one and you might as well shut up shop. And it isn’t only companies that need a catchy brand, countries do as well. So how would you brand Croatia? At a recent branding conference it was suggested that well-known Croatian names, such as Tesla and Penkala (that’s where we get the word pen from by the way), should be used to brand Croatia. But due to its unusual boomerang shape the country might look for other branding answers, how about as a bogus croissant. On a popular Croatian news broadcast an anonymous author put forward the idea of branding Croatia as a dragon!
The presenter put this idea forward: ‘’At a large conference about branding Croatia that was held a few days ago, there was plenty of suggestions how the country can and should be promoted (Tesla, Penkala, the sea and the coast, blah, blah), but unlike these blah blah, we are going to present you a concrete and exceptionally original solution related to the mapping of our country. We usually perceive it as a bogus croissant. However, you will be surprised to see what this croissant can turn into and what Croatia can be. The author wanted to remain anonymous, and we were impressed’’, announced the TV host of the latest RTL Direct news.
Check out the video
Game of Films exhibition moves to Luza
The Dubrovnik Tourist Board in cooperation with Dubrovnik Cinemas, took over the exhibition ‘’Game of Films’’, originally made by The Dubrovnik Times and Dubrovacki Vjesnik. The exhibition was moved from Lazareti to space of Dubrovnik Cinemas in Luza, below the Bell Tower.
Dubrovnik turned into one of the favourite filming locations for movies and series and this exhibition shows the greatest filming moments caught by local photographers. From Game of Thrones to Star Wars, from Bollywood to Hollywood – Dubrovnik has been part of it all. The exhibition also shows a bit of the latest fuss – filming of Robin Hood that gathered world famous stars such as Jamie Dornan, Jamie Foxx and Taron Egerton.
This exhibition presents the films and serials that have been filmed on location since Game of Thrones transformed the city into King’s Landing. Dubrovnik is truly - Hollywood on the Adriatic.
If you want to catch a glimpse of filming atmosphere in Dubrovnik you can do it for free in Luza. You won’t be disappointed.
Heineken Regatta comes to Croatia
One of the world’s most popular sailing regattas is coming to Croatia for the first time this summer.
After the world famous Heineken Regatta which has traditionally been held on the exotic Caribbean island of St Maarten for the 37th time, Heineken Regatta Croatia will be held on three locations including the city of Split, the island of Brac, and the island of Vis from the 5th to the 8th of August 2017.
The first edition of Heineken Regatta Croatia is conceived as an international event, which will gather professional skippers and sportsmen from all around the world. However, all interested enthusiasts of this adrenaline sport and active lifestyle will also have a chance to experience the magic of sailing on the beautiful Adriatic, one of the most prominent nautical locations and the unique landscape with 1246 islands.
The first leg of the race starts in Split on the 6th of August and finishes on Brac, the second leg is scheduled for the 7th of August from Brac to Pakleni otoci (Pakleni islands), whilst the final leg will take place from the Pakleni islands to Vis on the same day.
Apart from the daytime sports program, organizers have also announced an interesting entertainment program; a spectacular opening party at the Central Club in Split the evening before the official start of the race, a sunset party featuring live performance of Rick Swann at the Auro Beach Bar on Brac on the 6th of August, as well as an unforgettable live set of the world's famous DJ Michael Feiner at the magnificent Fort George on the island of Vis on the 7th of August.
The entire offer of Heineken Regatta Croatia will be enriched with traditional Croatian gastronomy, culture and tradition.
380,000 tonnes of food wasted in Croatia every year
Food waste is an issue of high importance to global food security and good environmental management, directly linked with environmental, economic, and social impacts.
According to the latest data presented at the Food Safety and Food Quality conference held in Opatija, approximately 380,000 tonnes of food are wasted in Croatia annually, whilst around 88 million tonnes of food are wasted in the European Union, with associated costs estimated at 143 billion Euros.
''More than 53 percent of edible food is wasted in households'', commented Marija Batinic from the Ministry of Agriculture, and emphasized that a donation process is most often too expensive or too complicated for companies that are willing to donate food.
Furthermore, Batinic also pointed out that a large number of stores do not donate food surplus because they are afraid that such food could be distributed incorrectly and in case of poisoning, they could face claims that would affect their reputation.
As one of the possible solutions, Patrick Alix, the Secretary General at the European Federation of Food Banks, has suggested the establishment of a food bank that Croatia has not have yet. However, such process requires the time and urgent adjustment of the existing legislation. He also emphasized that donation should not be more expensive than food wasting, and that tax deductions and incentives must be provided to food donors.
According to data from the Tax Administration of the Croatian Ministry of Finance, first steps have already been taken this May by introducing tax incentives for businesses that decide to donate food.
In addition, Tina Debeljak from the Red Cross charity shop confirmed that they noticed significant improvement in terms of donations. ''A value of purchased food in the charity shop in 2015 was 345,000 Kunas, whilst the total value of all donations in 2016 was more than 3 million Kunas, or 185 tonnes of food. On the other hand, only in the first half of 2017, the value of donations was more than 2 million Kunas'', commented Debeljak.
Great May results in Dubrovnik-Neretva County
In May 2017 there were 180,296 tourist arrivals in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County, which is 15 percent more than in May 2016. Also, there were 634,327 overnight stays, which is 14 percent more than in May 2016.
In the first five months of 2017, there were 371,149 arrivals in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County with 1,238,293 overnight stays. Compared to 2016, overnight stays have increased by 23 percent.
The largest number of overnight stays was made by tourists from the United Kingdom, Croatia, Germany, the United States of America, France, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Austria.
Jadrolinija brings news in maritime traffic
From Friday, June second, Croatia’s largest liner shipping company Jadrolinija will have additional lines in local maritime traffic. Apart from the existing lines, from June 3rd there will also be a new catamaran line connecting Pula, Unije, Susak, Mali Losinj, Ilovik, Silba and Zadar. From June 9th season catamaran Dubrovnik-Korcula-Hvar-Bol-Split will start running. There are also some news in international traffic – ferry line from Bari (Italy) to Bar (Montenegro) runs from May 18th this year by the ship ‘’Dubrovnik’’, which also runs the line Dubrovnik-Bari until December.
In 2016, Jadrolinija broke records and transported a total of 11.3 million passengers and 2.6 million vehicles. The fleet of 50 vessels is ready for the upcoming season, which requires the maximum engagement of ships and crew. The Jadrolinija fleet is doing over 600 trips a day, with about 600 thousand passengers a week, and the most frequent lines are maintained 24 hours a day. Additional lines will be introduced as needed.
In order to reduce crowds in agencies and sales outlets at seaports during the season, it is recommended to buy tickets via the official website www.jadrolinija.hr, where all the details are available.
Is Security in Life Overrated?
It was an emotional Sunday for me. It was my 36th birthday and I watched tens of thousands of people cry on TV – not because I'm getting older, but because Italian football club AS Roma was saying goodbye to their star player Francesco Totti.
It was an incredible sight. Totti spent the last 28 years playing for Roma and was at one point one of the best football strikers in the world. This means, he could've gone away to bigger clubs and receive more money than he did (it's not like he was working for minimum wage, but still...), but chose instead to play for the club he loves until the end of his career. As you can imagine, his last game was extremely emotional with everybody on the stadium, from the cleaners to the club president, weeping like little kids. It was beautiful, but it also marked a definite end to an era of playing football for love. Today, the game is much different.
I won't be going on a long rant about football (although, God knows I could). The only reason I'm mentioning this story is because I was talking to a good friend of mine about this earlier and we agreed it was such a powerful moment seeing this incredibly successful player in front of 50,000 screaming, crying fans, saying goodbye to such an important part of his life. Imagine doing one job for 28 years and being so successful at it you are put alongside some of the greats of your time, having an army of fans follow you because of your job performance, and then having to quit. That surely is a hard step to take to say the least. My friend commented how change and facing uncertainty is always a difficult task in life, regardless of one's means and life style. She is definitely right, but it also made me think as to why facing change is such a big deal to us.
I personally love change. You could say I'm addicted to it. There is nothing I like more than a clean slate, a new beginning, an empty sheet of paper. Uncertainty often times holds within endless possibilities. Of course, when I talk about uncertainty, I usually think about career changes or moving. Obviously, some people face such dire situations in life they are not as giddy as me because they don't know what tomorrow brings. But, when talking about everyday changes in life, I think the majority of people are too cautious. People resist change, they are intimidated by it, often times for no valid reason.
The mere fact they don't know for sure what their lives will look like tomorrow is enough to have many of them shaking in their boots.
I've had multiple new beginnings in my life, whether professional or emotional. Sometimes new ventures would turn out to be good, sometimes less so, but the rush of excitement at all the different prospects opening up in front of me was always intoxicating. In fact, if there is one thing that causes unease in me as I'm growing older, it's narrowing of options. The younger you are the more possibilities are in front of you. As you are growing older you are making choices that limit your options: you are investing in a career, having children, buying real estate. All these limit your options... maybe some new ones are opening, but many more are closing at the same time.
So, why do we do this? Why are we limiting our options? Simply put, to increase security. Having a career in one field increases your job security. Getting married and having children ensures you will have someone to lean on emotionally in the future. Buying a house should enable you a steady roof over your head regardless of the variations in the property market of your local area. We are exchanging incredible, exciting future options for secured present benefits which will hopefully fulfil us. It makes sense. It's a reasonable thing to do. But still, I can't get over the fact that every step we make leaves an infinite number of possibilities unrealised. It’s as if we are wilfully saying goodbye to a myriad of different lives that could’ve been.
Maybe I’m foolish to dwell on it, but isn’t the day we all dread in life the one when we will truly be left without any options to choose from and with only one box left to tick.
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Bozidar Jukic, AKA The Restless Native, is a Dubrovnik local with too many interests to name them all, with writing being at the very top of the list. He is a lover of good food, music and film, and a firm believer in the healing power of laughter. His professional orientation is towards tourism and travel so it comes as no surprise he spends most of his time alongside Mrs. Jukic running their own local tour company. Their goal is helping travellers from all over the world get a more intimate experience of Dubrovnik and what it has to offer. To find out more about their work, visit their website or Facebook page.
Every fourth person in Croatia smokes
The World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) is marked around the world every year on the 31st of May in order to indicate numerous negative effects that smoking has on human health.
The member countries of the World Health Organization (WHO) created World No Tobacco Day in 1987. In the past thirty years, this day has been organized with both enthusiasm and resistance around the globe from governments, public health organizations, smokers, growers, and the tobacco industry.
As far as Croatia is concerned, the latest data show that every fourth person aged 15 and older smokes, whilst smoking leads to more than 10,000 deaths annually.
Furthermore, almost 76 percent of young population aged 13-15 has tried a cigarette, whilst 10 percent of them have continued smoking on daily basis.
The data also show that the highest number of young people starts to smoke in high school, however, some of them start even at the end of elementary school.
According to the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs, which was carried out in 36 European countries in 2011, the young population in Croatia was above the European average in terms of smoking cigarettes, i.e. they placed as the 3rd among 36 countries in Europe.
On the other hand, according to the Croatian Health Survey from 2008, around 25 percent of men and 22 percent of women in Croatia smoke.
Construction of largest ship ever built in Croatia to cost 340 million
According to information, a Croatian shipping company is to build the largest ship ever built in a Croatian shipyard.
However, there is still no official confirmation from the Split shipyard Brodosplit because no contract has been signed yet, but it seems that the agreement has been reached after a year of negotiation.
Various suppliers have already been contacted to participate in the construction of the ship, whilst naval architects have been working day and night.
The cruise ship, which is to be built for a German company will be 250 metres long with 12 decks and a maximum capacity for 1,200 passengers and 600 crew members. The value of this contract is estimated at 340 million Euros.
This type of ship is usually ordered in the option ''one plus one'', i.e. one firm plus one optional new building.
Despite this great news for Brodosplit and the Croatian shipping industry in general, the biggest challenge they have to face now is how to close the financial structure. Such a huge order has never been obtained in Croatia before and is beyond the Croatian frameworks. Domestic banks cannot follow the process, however, if everything goes right, the contract should be signed during this summer.
So far, the largest ship that was built in the Brodosplit shipyard was a Ro-Pax Ferry & Cargo ship ‘’Piana’’, which was delivered to the French company SNC Navale STEF-TFE in 2011. Due to its complex construction and the contracted price of 150 million Euros, this ship was the most expensive ship ever built in the Croatian shipyards.
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