Iron Maiden, Whitesnake, Jethro Tull & Jon Lord band members preparing spectacle in Zagreb

(Photo: Press)

On March 24, in addition to Jon Lord’s Concerto For Group & Orchestra and Deep Purple’s biggest hits, Zagreb audience will also be able to enjoy Bruce Dickinson’s songs, which will be performed for the first time in a full orchestral arrangement on the current tour, performed by the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra and a band made up of world-class musicians.

Tears Of The Dragon and Jerusalem are hits by Bruce Dickinson, the frontman of the heavy metal group Iron Maiden, for which the orchestral arrangement was written by Richard Whilds, a British composer and conductor who is also responsible for the arrangement of the Smoke On The Water version that is also performed on this tour. 

The conductor of the project, Paul Mann (Deep Purple, London Symphony Orchestra) arranged the compositions When A Blind Man Cries, Hush and Perfect Strangers (Lord, Mann), and the arrangements of other Deep Purple hits, all three movements of the Concerto For Group & Orchestra and parts of the Sarabande (of Lord’s second solo album) performed on this occasion, is signed by Jon Lord, keyboardist and one of the founders of the legendary hard rock group.

Bruce Dickinson and Paul Mann were close friends and collaborators of the late Deep Purple composer and keyboardist. It was they who initiated the performance of this unique classical piece, which in the late 60s was one of the first to successfully combine classical and rock, to honour one of the greatest musical innovators of the last century, seven years after his death, on the 50th anniversary of the premiere London performance. 

After two sensational concerts in 2019 in Quebec and 2021 in Györ, on March 15 from Bucharest they will embark on a European and South American tour accompanied by respected philharmonic orchestras and an all stars band made up of members of Jon Lord’s band and members of the famous rock band Jethro Tull and Whitesnake.

Together with Bruce Dickinson, singer of Iron Maiden, with whom he sold more than 100 million copies of the album, and Paul Mann, who conducted philharmonics around the world with Deep Purple and the London Symphony Orchestra, the Zagreb public will see and hear 74 members of the well-known band on the stage of Zagreb’s Cibona and the respected Zagreb Philharmonic along with four other great musicians of world caliber.

(Photo: Press/Supplied)

Keyboards will be played by John O’Hara, a multi-instrumentalist and composer who grew up in North Wales and has been a member of the famous British progressive-rock band Jethro Tull for the past 20 years, known for its fusion of hard rock, classical and English ethnic music. Before his career with Jethro Tull, he was the composer and musical director of one of the most famous theatres in the world, the Bristol Old Vic. In 2004, he composed a children’s opera for the Welsh National Opera, which was a great success. He teaches at the Universities of Bath and Bristol and is a visiting tutor at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

On the bass guitar is Tanya O’Callaghan, a current member of the legendary group Whitesnake and an established Irish musician with an impressive career so far during which she has collaborated with a number of famous musicians such as: Maynard James Keenan (Tool), Dee Snider (Twisted Sister), Steven Adler (Guns N’ Roses), Nuno Bettencourt (Extreme), The Riverdance, The Voice, Orianthi, Michael Angelo Batio, Kevin Godley, Sharon Corr (The Corrs), David Gray and others.

The guitar is played by Kaitner Z Doka, guitar virtuoso, music composer and producer, originally from Dubrovnik. In the last 20 years, he has been building his career outside of Croatia, playing and collaborating with the most famous names of the world’s rock/fusion/jazz and classical music scene, such as: Sir Paul McCartney (The Beatles), members of Deep Purple: Ian Paice, Jon Lord, Roger Glover , Ian Gillan, Don Airey and Steve Morse, then Guy Partt (Pink Floyd), Neil Murray (Whitesnake), Mike Stern (Billy Cobham, Miles Davis) and many others. He was a member of the last line-up of Jon Lord’s band and had the opportunity to perform the Concerto with his composer several times.

(Photo: Press/Supplied)

Behind the drums is Bernhard Welz, a respected Austrian drummer, composer and producer, also a member of the last line-up of Jon Lord’s band. He is known for his collaboration with one of the greatest rock drummers of all time, Ian Paice, his personal role model and mentor, in whose band he plays drums with Dok on guitar, which speaks volumes about the kind of musician he is. In his rich career he also collaborated with: Sir Paul McCartney (The Beatles), Roger Glover, Don Airey, Steve Morse (Deep Purple), Guy Pratt (Pink Floyd), Neil Murray (Whitesnake), Mike Stern (Billy Cobham, Miles Davis) and many other famous musicians.

The concert is organised by the company Music Time led by producer Tomislav Kašljević, and tickets are available via the Eventim system. The official partner of the Zagreb concert is the oldest Croatian craft brewery, Pivovara Medvedgrad.

Apart from Zagreb, as part of the European tour and also organised by Music Time, the concert will also be held on March 22 in Sarajevo at Mirza Delibašić Hall and on March 25 at Cankarjevo dom in Ljubljana.