Crescendo Elements on tour: Ljubljana, Brentonico, Nogaredo, Rijeka, Cres!

Posted on December 17, 2022

With great joy we are starting the tour today with this very special project! It’s been way too long since our last performance, so I hope to see some of you in person at one of these events!

Crescendo Elements is a multidisciplinary concert that includes a felting workshop and a photo exhibition of felted costume design through a trip to different locations. The ability to convey the traditions, emotions, colors and sonorities associated with the environment and history of the locations allows the viewer to be immersed in a sensual, aesthetic journey presented by musician Astrid Kuljanic, designer Vesna Jakic, and photographer Francesco Moretti.

The program is structured as a recollection of a journey: embarking from the island of Cres with its still wild nature and its cultural influences that come from all over Europe, and where Astrid and Vesna share their origins. It spread across the ocean to the city of New York, a city of many contradictions, but incredibly vibrant and open to new visitors. Different conditions and starting points turned Astrid and Vesna into true cultural and international ambassadors of Croatian identity through music and wool creations. The third stage of the trip will take place in Italy, in the Eastern Alps and the Dolomites. This choice is connected with the symbolism of mountains that were once ancient barriers and natural borders, and today have become meeting places for cultural exchange. Furthermore, in these still authentic Alpine villages, there are cultural and traditional elements that are common to the entire northern and eastern area of the Adriatic basin, ranging from Venice to Split. Legends, songs, textile works and the use of raw materials make them a must-see destination for Astrid and Vesna.

American multi-instrumentalist and composer Mat Muntz will join the trip. The program opens with a concert by Astrid Kuljanić and Mat Muntz, where Astrid’s originals and traditional Cres music are performed in modern arrangements, and Astrid performs in a handmade dress made of Cres wool from the Ruta association. In addition to the double bass, Mat Muntz also plays the traditional sheepskin bagpipe primorski meh. This performance is followed by a lecture about wool from Cres and its connections to local ethnography and ecology. Here the audience literally dips their hands into the soap and makes a flower out of that wool after about 15 minutes of felting. During the lecture, the photos of Francesco Moretti, who accompanied Astrid and Vesna during these trips and recorded their work, on and off the stage, are also presented. Thus, the audience can experience the story first-hand and see what can be made with wool. Finally, the event ends with music. Astrid’s performance wardrobe will be crafted via Vesna’s modern interpretations of traditional felting techniques, a constant exploration undertaken at the Ruta Association on Cres. The program attracts different audiences, one art promotes another, and visitors who come for one segment are also exposed to a new segment of art, and everything is connected by a common story. The human communities involved in this artistic journey, which is not only geographical, from Croatia to New York, to the peasants of the Alps, enrich the creative experience and the cultural value of the journey itself.

Supported by Ministry of Culture and Media of Republic of Croatia and Primorsko – goranska County.