Plan your trip to Dubrovnik in 2019 with this guide to the main events in the city for next year. From the Dubrovnik Summer Festival to music, dance and gastronomic events the Dubrovnik calendar for next year is packed full of fun and entertainment. Whether you are a culture vulture or just looking to let your hair down you can experience some magic on the Adriatic in 2019.
24 January – 2 February 2019
DUBROVNIK FESTA 2019
This multi-day event traditionally opens the official program of celebrations around the holiday of St. Blaise and the Day of the City of Dubrovnik.
2 – 10 FEBRUARY 2019
FESTIVAL OF ST. BLAISE
Ever since the year 972, when people began to celebrate it, the feast day of St Blaise, the Dubrovnik patron saint, has been a quite special festival, typical of Dubrovnik. A series of church and secular concerts, exhibitions, book presentations and theatre guest performances are dedicated to the patron saint of Dubrovnik, whose statues look at us from the city walls and gates and whose caring hand guards Dubrovnik on his palm.
1 – 5 FEBRUARY 2019
DUBROVNIK CARNIVAL 2019
Our ancestors also had fun, and so should we... is a proverb which one can hear in Dubrovnik in February during the carnival, the time when everything is allowed, when people become someone else or show their true face... Experience the special atmosphere of the Dubrovnik carnival festivities characterized by jokes, laughter, merriment, joy, satire... feel the special spirit of the City at carnival time!
7 – 13 APRIL 2019
Quiet please, Dubrovnik and film love each other…
This Dubrovnik film event thrilled visitors, especially with the exhibition on the history of film making created on the principle of ˝Augmented Reality˝ through which tourists and Dubrovnik locals had the opportunity to become acquainted with all of the links between the City of Dubrovnik and film culture over the last hundred years, as well as other varied and appealing options for all ages. The organizers have had great incentive to create and interesting program for 2019 which will hold many surprises.
26 – 28 APRIL 2019
AKLAPELA (Dalmatian songs festival)
Aklapela festival of the best Croatian vocal groups nourishes the authentic vocal singing, a festival named by a pun of the words klapa and a cappella. Unlike other numerous established music festivals that are successfully held in Dubrovnik, Aklapela is an entirely national musical product and, with visionary artistic leadership, has the potential to become a referent value of Croatian ethno-music.
12 – 26 APRIL 2019
DUBROVNIK MUSICAL SPRING
Dubrovnik musical spring is a new musical event organized by the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra. This is a cycle of concerts of classical music that will be held from 12 to 26 April 2019. It is designed to enrich the cultural offer of Dubrovnik.
22 - 28 APRIL 2019
DUBROVNIK FESTIWINE
The tourist orientation of Dubrovnik and Dubrovnik – Neretva County represents a tremendous privilege and challenge to local winemakers. It brings thousands of curious visitors to their cellar each year, and many of them are knowledgeable about wine. The central event of the project „Wine Tourist Network – WiNe“ is the regional wine festival – Dubrovnik FestiWiNe which will be held in Dubrovnik again in April. The festival will gather more than 100 regional winemakers who will have the opportunity to present their wines to numerous wine professionals and visitors. Domestic high quality wines of authentic varieties represent powerful, underutilized competitive advantage of this area.
28 - 29 APRIL 2019
DUBROVNIK HALF MARATHON
The attractiveness of this new sporting event is based on the fact that Dubrovnik – the host city is part of the UNESCO’s world Heritage. The terrain is very attractive for marathon running, especially 2K (two-kilometre long) race with a limited number of participants held on the Dubrovnik walls, Dubrovnik’s most important attraction. The half marathon route is 21.1 km long, starts at Ploče, passes through the Pile up till Kantafig in Gruž, with a turn near the Marina Komolac and finish in the best possible venue - Stradun. With the motto “More than a race” this new event, as planned, will be more than just a sporting event, through running healthy lifestyles will be promoted, all in the “hugs” of Dubrovnik historical monuments, with Klapa songs and the blessings of Dubrovnik’s patron saint - St. Blaise - as protected elements of intangible heritage in the UNESCO’s.
7 – 18 June 2019
Cycle of baroque music - ORLANDO FURIOSO
Orlando Furioso, organized by the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, will be held from 7 to 18 June 2019 in Dubrovnik. It’s a cycle of baroque music.
13 – 16 JUNE 2019
LE PETIT FESTIVAL DU THEATRE
This is a small festival, but a special and distinctive cultural event in which artists represent artistic talents from around the world. Le Petit Theatre du Festival every year raises the curtain revealing creations carefully selected and talented artists whether they are poets, actors, dancers, or something completely different.
21 JUNE 2019
MUSIC SCENE FESTIVAL “ANA IN TOWN”
The festival Ana in Town celebrates a young artist, a cellist with a recognizable musical style, Ana Rucner in a double role as classical musician and crossover instrumentalist. A fantastic concert at the dawn of the first day of summer and World Music Day on June 21st is an exceptional artistic event and unique view and experience of sunrise at the top of the Srdj Mountain.
21 JUNE – 5 JULY 2019
MIDSUMMER SCENE
Midsummer Scene is an established theatre festival held in English that uses one of the most beautiful stage ambient – Dubrovnik’s St. Lawrence Fortress – which is the stage for Shakespeare’s most well-known dramas, realised through the cooperation of British and Croatian theatre artists.
28 JUNE - 5 JULY 2019
11TH INTERNATIONAL OPERA ARIAS FESTIVAL - „TINO PATTIERA“
The festival is named after and organized in the memory of the world famous tenor Tino Pattiera, one of the major singers at the opera houses both in Europe and worldwide in the first half of the 20th century. The International Operatic Aria Festival Hommage Tino Pattiera was founded aiming to become another permanent operatic event in our city, to complete the operatic milieu of Dubrovnik, and to present the most beautiful operatic output of the greatest composers to its audiences.
1 JULY –31 AUGUST 2019
SUMMER EVENTS PROGRAM IN DUBROVNIK SOURROUNDINGS
For many years the City of Dubrovnik and Dubrovnik Tourist Board have been organizing music and entertainment programs on the Elaphite islands, and in Zaton and Orašac in order to present tourists the Mediterranean melody, folklore and folk traditions that have been cherished for ages. Within special programs with traditional folk festivities and holidays guests will be able to enjoy some thirty performances this summer such as: Dalmatian vocal groups concerts, folklore performances, classical music concerts and performances by Croatian music entertainers which will be held on Koločep, Lopud, Šipan, in Zaton and Orašac.
10 JULY–25 AUGUST 2019
70th DUBROVNIK SUMMER FESTIVAL
The Dubrovnik Summer Festival is undoubtedly the largest and most representative cultural manifestation, not only in Dubrovnik, but in all of Croatia. It is held since 1950 and lasts every year from 10 July to 25 August.
4 – 14 AUGUST 2019
ŠIPAN SUMMER FILM SCHOOL
Each summer on the island of Šipan the summer film school and film festival called “Šipan Film Summer School” is held. The event has an international character since the films, participants in the program, and festival guests come from Germany, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom. Under the auspices of the City of Dubrovnik, the film festival in Šipanska Luka lasts from August 4th to 14th, and ten selected films are shown. “Šipan Film Summer School” takes into account the specific situation of a Dalmatian island. In winter it is a closed environment, and in the summer months through cinema the island communicates with the whole world. School children from Šipan have the opportunity to be creative together with their peers from Europe and the around the world.
27 AUGUST – 20 SEPTEMBER 2019
MUSIC FESTIVAL – DUBROVNIK IN LATE SUMMER
The end of August and almost whole September in Dubrovnik are reserved for great classical music concerts. For the seventh year the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra organizes the International Late Summer Music Festival Dubrovnik, which brings internationally acclaimed artists to the town. The music director of the festival is Austrian conductor Christoph Campestrini and the festival takes place from 27 August until 20 September 2019.
1 -12 OCTOBER 2019
STRADUN CLASSIC
Marija Pavlović, Artist in residence
18 OCTOBER – 8 NOVEMBER 2019
AUTUMN MUSIC VARIETY
Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra autumn concerts are covered with a new festival – Autumn Music Variety. Festival, as the name says, brings us a variety of music events.
17 -20 OCTOBER 2019
GOOD FOOD FESTIVAL 2019
A number of new and interesting gastronomic programs are found within this unique project of the Dubrovnik Tourist Board, which has become an exceptional supplement to the regular tourism offerings for tourist in the autumn month of October and has become a favourite among the locals, as well. The new edition of the Good Food Festival brings presentations of culinary specialties typical for our region, educational programs for children, tastings of regional wines, culinary workshops, and events such as “Dinner with a famous chef”, workshops on preparing Dubrovnik delicacies, special menus in Dubrovnik restaurants, an “Eat & Walk” culinary tour, as well as other surprises.
December 2019 – January 2020
DUBROVNIK WINTER FESTIVAL
The Dubrovnik Winter Festival is an event which reveals a new aspect of the City of Dubrovnik, featuring magical lighting highlighting its timeless beauty and uncovering the rich diversity of artistic expression through special events, entertainment programs, colourful cuisine with a touch of tradition, and ancient customs.
ADVENT IN THE CITY
The program of Dubrovnik’s winter festival – Advent in the City – begins with the lighting of the first Advent candle. The uniqueness of Dubrovnik is also visible during the month of giving. This year’s Christmas market will be set up on the most beautiful street in Dubrovnik, Stradun, where traditional craftsmen will present their handicrafts, Christmas decorations, and traditional Christmas cakes and sweets will be offered as well. Try to sing the traditional holiday songs, the Dubrovnik kolenda (carols), which have been sung on Christmas Eve and on New Year’s Eve since olden times, offering congratulations and wishing everyone a joyful holiday!
NEW YEAR’S EVE
Dubrovnik’s many visitors will bring in New Year’s 2020 while entertained by a spectacular music programme which will already begin in the morning hours of December 31st, New Year’s Eve. The New Year’s program includes a diverse, entertaining three-day program, in which everyone will find something interesting. The New Year will begin with the traditional New Year’s Day 10 km race, and a special treat will be a concert of the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, paired with oysters and champagne, beginning on New Year’s Day at noon.
The dates and timings of these events was correct at the time of publishing – source The Dubrovnik Tourist Board