Music Biennale Zagreb (, MBZ) is an international festival of contemporary music in Zagreb, Croatia, organized by the Croatian Composers' Society. The Biennale, founded by Milko Kelemen and held every spring of the odd years since 1961, has become one of the most important festivals of contemporary music in Europe.
Repertoire and format
Throughout its history, the Biennale has given equal weight to classical 20th century repertoire and experimental music, encompassing a variety of musical forms, including symphonic and chamber concerts, opera, ballet, music theatre and multimedia performances. Accompanying lectures, workshops and symposiums are also gaining prominence in recent years. The Biennale has collaborated with some of the biggest international names in contemporary music, including Luciano Berio, John Cage, Peter Maxwell Davies, Mauricio Kagel, Witold Lutosławski, Bruno Maderna and Igor Stravinsky.
The festival gained international prominence in the 1960s and the 1970s due in large part to an ambivalent position of Yugoslavia in the political and ideological divisions of the Cold War, making it a unique gathering place for artists from both East and West. Just as its founder had hoped, it has provided a boost for Croatian composers and musicians by accelerating their integration into world trends in contemporary music, especially through co-productions and partnerships with their foreign colleagues. It has also proved popular with the concert-going public, as its events are seen by almost ten thousand people, which, according to the festival's long-time director Ivo Josipović, controverts the idea of Biennale being about a "group of freaks who pour water into a piano". The festival's popularity is partly due to symbolic ticket prices: in 2011, entrance fee for most events was 20 HRK (c. €3), while the festival pass was available for 150 HRK (€20).
Approximately 70% of the festival's funding is today provided by the Ministry of Culture and the City of Zagreb, while the rest comes through donations and the festival's own income.
In 2005 the Biennale hosted the ISCM World Music Days. It hosted the World Music Days again in 2011, coinciding with the Biennale's 50th anniversary.
History
The first Biennale
The idea to organize the Biennale came from Milko Kelemen, a Croatian contemporary classical composer. After studying composition under Olivier Messiaen in Paris in 1954, Kelemen spent some time in Darmstadt, where he was associated with the Darmstadt School. Upon returning to Zagreb, Kelemen got the impression that Croatian music was "eighty years behind", and in 1959 had an idea to organize an international festival of contemporary music. However, Zagreb Mayor Većeslav Holjevac was not interested until Kelemen threatened to organize the festival in Belgrade instead; even then, Holjevac could provide funding in domestic currency only, leaving the would-be organizers unable to pay any compensation to foreign participants.
Kelemen nevertheless had a plan. He visited Yekaterina Furtseva, Minister of Culture of the Soviet Union, and — knowing she was an ardent communist — told her that the influence of the United States and the West was getting stronger in Yugoslavia, so Soviet musicians were needed in Zagreb. She not only accepted immediately, but also agreed to cover all expenses. After that, Kelemen traveled to Washington and spoke to the State Department, this time arguing that Russian influence in Yugoslavia was very strong and that the Russians had already applied for performing in Zagreb. He asked for Americans to join in, and was again successful. Once Soviet and American participation was secured, Kelemen found that attracting the rest was "fairly easy". Still, his organizing efforts earned him two days in prison under interrogation by the Yugoslav secret police, because his frequent trips to Soviet Union and the USA were deemed suspicious. In the end, the first Biennale was a success noted even by The New York Times, which published a half-page review of the event.