The Ana in the City Festival, is being held for the ninth year in Dubrovnik this year, and will feature a rich and attractive program from the 21st to the 23rd of June this year. Ana Rucner will once again delight audiences as she greets the sunrise for the first day of summer, the 21st of June. You’ll need to get up early as the whole concert starts at 5:00am. We caught up with Ana before the big event.

This is the ninth year that you will hold your Ana in the City festival in Dubrovnik. How did you get the idea to start the festival and why did you decide on Dubrovnik?

First of all, Dubrovnik for me is the heart of culture. And every time I come to Dubrovnik I fall in love all over again. I had always wanted to perform in the Rector’s Palace, so the very first festival I made was exactly in that atmospheric palace. The following year I had the idea to play as the sun rose on the first day of summer. I’m not sure how I got this idea, just a creative moment. I wanted to give people something new, and now it has turned into a real tradition.

And this year will see something new, as not only will you greet the sun in the morning but also wave goodbye to the sun as it sets in the evening.

I respect the colour of the sunrise, the audience, the atmosphere and the music as the sun rises over Dubrovnik for the first day of summer. Every day is like one life. You wake, you live and you go to sleep. So with a concert at the start and the end of the day I will make the circle. The sunset concert will be on Sunset Beach on Dubrovnik and it will be a rock classic repertoire. For the 5.00 am concert on top of the Srd Mountain overlooking Dubrovnik I have gathered a really great team. On the first day of summer and the World Music Day, the 21st of June at five o'clock in the morning besides the beautiful sounds of Ana's cello accompanied by pianist Darko Domitrović, visitors will also enjoy the great repertoire of the prominent soprano Sandra Bagaric.

Entrance to the concerts on the 21st of June on the Srd Mountain and on Sunset Beach Dubrovnik are free of charge

You are about to publish a new CD in connection with Croatian Heritage. How did this project start?

Over the last couple of years, I have made so many videos about Croatia, from all the four corners of the country. I am very proud of this music but I never published it. So I just decided to collect all these wonderful songs together and make one project.

You have recently become the first every Croatian woman to give a TEDx speech in China. How was that experience?

It was an amazing, amazing experience. My theme was bridges in culture. My theme was how to find your own bridge to happiness. I talked about how I started in music and my career so far, it truly was a fantastic new experience. There were doctors, scientists and even a former Prime Minister of France speaking on that TEDx. Not only was I the first Croatian woman to give a TEDx in China but also my first ever TEDx. I was a little nervous before it started but once I got into it and started talking I relaxed.

Every year the festival supports a humanitarian cause, what is the cause this year?

“New Life” or “Novi Život” is the cause this year. I will hold two performances of humanitarian character, on the 22nd and 23rd of June in the Rector’s Palace. All the funds collected from ticket sales will be donated to the Association of Blind and Blind Persons of the Dubrovnik-Neretva County. I love helping people, this is my bridge, my bridge to heaven.