Croatian Klapa Kastav wins big UK choral music festival competition

6 May 2019 – Klapa Kastav from Croatia has achieved great international success at one of biggest choir festivals in the UK.

Klapa Kastav has won first place at the 9th Cornwall International Male Choral festival on the weekend and with it the Lady Mary Holborow Trophy and £1000 in prize money. 

More than 2,000 singers from 59 choirs from 9 countries took part in three different categories at the festival. The Croatian klapa group, led by conductor Saša Matovina, beat performers from Australia, Finland, South Africa, Canada, Lithuania, Holland, Russia and the UK. 

Klapa Kastav impressed with their performances of “Ave Maria”, “Oče naš”, “Linđo” and “U boj,u boj” at the Truro Cathedral in Cornwall. 

Klapa Kastav, who founded in 1992, have been continuously preserving the Croatian musical heritage. The group has won many awards over the years both in Croatia and abroad.  

Klapa Kastav are the first representatives from Croatia at this festival which was first held in 2003. The performance of the klapa was enabled by the Town of Kastav, Primorje-Gorski Kotar County and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia. Kastav is located near Rijeka.