The Zadar University awarded an honorary doctorate, gradus doctoris honoris causa, this year to Maestro Ivan Repušić, one of the most prominent and most successful Croatian conductors of the younger generation. Due to his artistic achievements the cultural public in Zadar and Croatia feel greatly indebted to him, as it was pointed out in the decision of the Zadar University Senate, adopted on September 28 this year.

– Talents are not so easy to recognize. From a little boy, enchanted by the sound of the organ, you have grown into a high-class conductor of national and international esteem. A person like you appears once in more than ten generations. The excellence that you have achieved goes hand in hand with the passion in orchestral conducting that you have turned into musical thanksgiving to those before and gift-giving to those after you. We especially appreciate the fact that you have taken Croatian music and Croatian composers across the Croatian borders. We appreciate that you have been building your career out of your homeland, but always with one foot in it, said in her speech Prof. Dijana Vican, PhD, Rector of the Zadar University.

– A lot of emotions connect me to this town that has given me so much and from which I have never separated myself by thoughts, deeds and my heart. I would like us to contribute together to its further development, and a big step forward is going to be the erection of a new concert hall that will not only house the Zadar Symphony Orchestra, but that will also be an opportunity to enrich the cultural life of the town and encourage further development of the University, said Maestro Repušić.

More