Music School Zlatko Baloković

The Music College was founded in 1970/1971 at the Center for Culture and Education of Pešćenica Municipality in Zagreb. Shortly after its foundation, it was named after Zlatko Baloković (1895 – 1965), the world's most celebrated and certainly the greatest Croatian violinist of the 20th century.

The college has started to work with 36 students of piano, 22 students of accordion and just 4 teachers. Hardly anyone could predict that in the next thirty years, the college would expand its activities so much, and become a prominent educational institution, one of the largest and most perspective music colleges in Croatia.

For the activities of the college departments: piano, string, wind, guitar, theoretic, accordion, tambura, solo singing and percussion, music kindergarten, preschool solfeggio, and for singing choirs, accordion, string and tambura orchestras, there are twenty-five classrooms and two concert halls at our disposal.

In addition to the numerous performances of students and ensembles at the national and international music competitions, we also arrange concerts of students and professors at HGZ (Croatian Music Institute), Vatroslav Lisinski concert hall, HTV (Croatian national television), as well as many successful guest performances at the international level.

In 2003, under the auspices of the President of the Republic of Croatia, Mr. Stjepan Mesić, and at the initiative of the French Government and of the French Government officials for the Cousie la Chatoeau Commune in L'Aisne (France), the French province of Picardie, J. C. Dumont, the international cultural cooperation between Music School of L'Aisne Department and Zlatko Baloković Music College was achieved.

The basic idea of international cooperation is based on cultural exchange – the concerts of our institution held in France in the second half of November 2003, and the concerts of French music school students in April 2004 in Zagreb.

We present the work of students and teachers of all departments of our music college, as well as Croatian folk instrument tambura, and music education and Croatian composers. Concerts of our students at the National Theater in Bucharest and a unique concert at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris are the result of successful international cooperation and the assurance of our students and teachers' high quality work.

Likewise, the international cooperation of the Zlatko Baloković Music College and the Music Schools and Cultural Institutions of the Republic of Slovenia – the Music School of Koper, takes place very intensively, with reciprocal guest performances and the preparation of independent and joint students' concerts. The present intensive development and successful results are the indicator of the extraordinary work and efforts of school staff. I am sure that the future period will also show high-quality educational and musical effects to the satisfaction of our students, their parents, teachers, and the overall community.

Director: Marjan Krajna, prof. Adviser