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The distinguished Croatian harpsichordist, Višnja Mažuran, began her artistic career as pianist and after several years of successful work as soloist turned to harpsichord. She acquired her basic musical knowledge at the Varaždin School of Music completed her studies at the Zagreb Academy of Music, where from she graduated in the class of Professor Ivo Maček. She went on to specialise at the High School of Music in Munich (R. Schmid), then to the School of Old Music in Innsbruck (Alan Curtis). Among he teachers was also Johann Sonnleitner.
In 1971 Višnja Mažuran joined I Solisti di Zagreb (Zagreb Soloists) as resident harpsichordist (soloist and continuo player) and toured with them the world, performing in more than 2000 concerts. Her partners in J.S. Bach Triple Concerto were among others: Henryk Szeryng, Felix Ayo, Pavel Vernikov, James Galway, Irena Grafenauer. She has appeared in the world's most prestigious halls, such as Salle Pleyel in Paris, Kennedy Center in Washington, Mozarteum in Salzburg, Teatro Real in Madrid, to single out just a few.
In parallel to her over 25 years of artistic activity with the I Solisti di Zagreb, Višnja Mažuran has developed a rich solo career and has achieved an enviable career on the national and international level. She masters a number of styles such as French music, Scarlatti's sonatas and J.S. Bach's works which are remarkable persistence paid for several decades. She played and recorded three of his most challenging works: Goldberg Variations (BWV 988), Art of Fugue (BWV 1080) and Das wohltemperierte Clavier I and II (BWV 846-869 & BWV 870-893). She has played with many national and international orchestras such as Zagreb Philharmonic, the Philharmonic of Graz, Solisti Aquillani and with well-known conductors, including Milan Horvat, Kazushi Ono, Paul Dešpalj, Antoni Witt, among others. She has played over 20 different harpsichord concertos including all the great concertos of the 20th century (Martin, Papandopulo, Martin, De Falla).
Višnja Mažuran is also artistic director and co-founder of the chamber ensemble for Baroque music, Musica Viva , which operates since 1988. She is a permanent guest of the renowned festival Varaždin Baroque Evenings in her hometown of Varaždin .
Since 1995, Višnja Mažuran is a visiting professor for harpsichord at the Zagreb Academy of Music, where she has and raised a number of young students, some of them are already acclaimed harpsichordists
Višnja Mažuran’s artistry has been recognised with such awards as 1978 Milka Trnina Prize (presented annualy by the Association of Croatian Musicians), Ivan Lukačić, Vladimir Nazor, Orlando, Kantor, Zagreb City Award; in 2007 she received a national medal for her contribution to the Croatian musical culture, Order of Croatian Danica with figure of Marko Marulić.
She makes music on her own instrument, which is a copy of the Flemish harpsichord from the 17th century builder Andreas Ruckersa. |
