Varaždin Baroque Evenings

In 1971, the first three-day festival was held, at that time one of the few specializing in this type of music in Europe.

For five decades now, baroque music has survived in the Croatian baroque capital and the former capital, Varaždin.

Varaždin Baroque Evenings are held mainly in churches and palaces, but not only in Varaždin. Today, Baroque Evenings is a two-week festival with ten thousand members of the audience from all over the world.

The Varaždin Baroque Evening Festival is the most important music and stage event in central Croatia, and today, as a specialized festival of early music, it is one of the most eminent festivals of its kind in the world. The Varaždin Baroque Evening Festival is of great importance for Croatian musical baroque heritage, as it encourages research, performance and preservation of Croatian Baroque works, both by domestic and foreign performers who often perform together as part of the festival. An important part of the festival is also a scientific conference with topics in the field of culture and music, which is attended by the greatest cultural and musical experts from Croatia and Europe, emphasizing the importance of heritage preservation. For several years now, the festival has had a partner country every year (Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Israel, Austria, the Russian Federation, Italy, France, Spain, Hungary, Japan, Sweden) and this year partner country is Ireland.

The festival is the holder of a prestigious label of the European Festival Association (EFFE) in 2021, which is awarded for innovation to festivals that managed to take place despite pandemic conditions and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia awarded it national significance 20 years ago.