Varaždin Baroque Evenings: September concerts in a baroque town

Every September, Varaždin fills its cathedral, churches, palaces and nearby castles with early music. The festival is called Varaždinske barokne večeri, the Varaždin Baroque Evenings. It has run since 1971, and the 2026 edition was the 56th. Ensembles play on period instruments, in rooms built in the same century as the music. The programme and tickets are on vbv.hr.

The idea came up in 1968, when the Varaždin music school celebrated its 140th anniversary. The first festival in 1971 lasted three days. Today it runs about two weeks, with around thirty concerts, several hundred musicians and, according to the organisers, about ten thousand listeners. Composer Davor Bobić has directed it since 2007. His predecessor Vladimir Kranjčević led it for 35 years. The President of Croatia is the festival's permanent patron, and Varaždin carries the title of UNESCO Creative City of Music.

Varaždin Baroque Evenings 2027

As of 20 October 2026, the organisers have announced no dates and no partner country for the 57th edition in 2027. vbv.hr still shows the 2026 programme. The last three editions all opened on a Friday in the second half of September:

• 2024, 54th edition: Friday 20 September to Wednesday 2 October, partner country Portugal.
• 2025, 55th edition: Friday 19 September to Tuesday 30 September, a jubilee with musicians from 17 countries, most of them earlier partners.
• 2026, 56th edition: Friday 18 September to Tuesday 29 September, partner country Belgium.

The programme usually appears well before the festival. In 2026 the organisers presented it on 23 June in the courtyard of the City Hall. The press conference with the full catalogue followed on 14 September, four days before the opening. The ticket office in the foyer of the Croatian National Theatre opened on 7 September.

Period instruments in period rooms

The festival builds on three kinds of authenticity, the organisers write: the venues, the instruments and the repertoire. Varaždin is one of the best preserved baroque towns, and most concerts take place in its churches and palaces. The ensembles play historically informed, on baroque instruments. Works by Croatian baroque composers stand next to Vivaldi, Bach and Händel, and a scientific symposium on music heritage runs alongside the concerts.

Each edition has a partner country that brings its leading early-music ensembles. Slovakia was the first. Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Israel, Austria, Russia, Italy, France, Spain, Hungary, Japan, Sweden, Slovenia, Ireland, Switzerland and Portugal followed. Belgium was the partner in 2026 and filled eight programmes.

Where the concerts take place

• Cathedral of the Assumption. The opening concert and the closing students' concert take place under its gilded high altar.
• Town churches. The Franciscan church, the Ursuline church and the parish church of St Nicholas host the evening concerts. St Florian's church has an organ from 1644, which festival director Davor Bobić calls the oldest preserved mechanical organ in Europe.
• Palaces and the theatre. Morning concerts fill Sermage Palace, and the Croatian National Theatre in Varaždin hosts evenings in its large concert hall.
• Castles. Trakošćan hosts concerts in its Knights' Hall. Opeka castle near Vinica joined the programme in 2025, after its renovation.
• The region. In 2026 concerts also took place in Macinec, Koprivnica, Varaždinske Toplice, Belec, Jalžabet, Križevci, Prelog, Nedelišće, Ludbreg, Petrijanec and Novi Marof, mostly in parish churches at 8 pm.

Total Baroque fills the theatre square

The fringe programme Total Baroque turns the square in front of the theatre into a festival meeting point. The day before the 2026 opening, the 30th international flower show "Baroque, music, flowers" opened there. On opening night a big screen showed the cathedral concert live, then the evening moved to the Old Town castle for music and fireworks. The partner country adds its own flavour: in 2026 Belgium served beer, pralines and waffles and showed exhibitions on Rubens, the saxophone inventor Antoine Joseph Sax and the Smurfs.

Tickets, times and the trip

Tickets sell online at shop.kuv.hr and at the Varaždin Concert Office in the foyer of the Croatian National Theatre, Augusta Cesarca 1, phone 042 311 907. The office also takes group bookings. In 2026 it opened on 7 September from 9 am to 1 pm, and from 14 September also from 5 pm to 7 pm. Prices are listed with each concert on vbv.hr. In 2026 the opening cost 40 euros and several evening concerts 20 euros.

Book early for the big names. On the opening day of 2026, local news portal eVaraždin reported that many concerts were already sold out. Most evening concerts start at 8 pm, while some castle and palace concerts begin at 11 am. Varaždin lies about an hour's drive north of Zagreb, according to the town's tourist board. The regional venues sit in villages and small towns around the region, so a car helps for those evenings.

Three awards and a students' concert close the festival

On the last day a jury hands out three festival awards in the City Hall. The Ivan Lukačić award honours musicological work and the best ensemble performance. The Jurica Murai award goes to the best interpretation, and the Vladimir Kranjčević award to the best performance of Bach. In 2025 the Lukačić award went to the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. The evening ends in the cathedral, where pupils of the Varaždin music school play with the Varaždin Chamber Orchestra. In 2026 entry to that concert was free.

Varaždin Baroque Evenings 2026 in review

The 56th edition ran from 18 to 29 September 2026 with Belgium as partner country. The festival listed 28 concerts, 17 in Varaždin and 11 in other towns. Belgian ensembles filled eight programmes, among them Scherzi Musicali, Ricercar Consort, Ensemble Clematis and Les Muffatti.

Countertenor Philippe Jaroussky opened the festival on 18 September in the cathedral with the B'Rock Orchestra from Brussels, soprano Céline Scheen and concertmaster Evgeny Sviridov. They played Vivaldi, Benda and Pergolesi's Stabat Mater. HRT had reported it as Jaroussky's first concert in Croatia, after ten years of talks, according to Bobić. The audience gave a standing ovation, the City of Varaždin reported, and HRT broadcast the concert on its third channel. Afterwards the Papandopulo saxophone quartet played in the Old Town, followed by fireworks and an exhibition of Rubens paintings on large panels.

On 19 September violinist Stefan Milenković played his Eight Seasons, Vivaldi and Piazzolla, with the Varaždin Chamber Orchestra in the theatre. On 25 September Les Muffatti Brussels Baroque Orchestra, led by Anthony Romaniuk, played Flemish composers in the Franciscan church. On 28 September the Zagreb Soloists filled St Nicholas with Händel concerti grossi and Vivaldi's Four Seasons. It was the last concert with the ensemble for its leader Sreten Krstić. The festival closed on 29 September with the awards in the City Hall and the students' concert in the cathedral.

The 2025 jubilee

The 55th edition ran from 19 to 30 September 2025 and brought musicians from 17 countries, mostly earlier partners from Slovakia to Portugal, plus Turkey. Il Giardino Armonico under Giovanni Antonini opened it in the cathedral, with mandolinist Avi Avital. Opeka castle hosted a festival concert for the first time. At the close, mayor Neven Bosilj named Belgium as the next partner country.

Varaždin around the concerts

The baroque centre is small enough to walk between morning and evening concerts. Our one-day guide to Varaždin has the route through the Old Town castle, the palaces and the squares. The Varaždin city page collects the rest, and Advent in Varaždin shows the same streets in December. Dates for other Croatian festivals next year are in our festival calendar for 2027.