Croatia

The beginnings of the guitar in Croatia date back to January 1829, when the instrument was first included in the regular curriculum of the Music School in Varaždin. This early start was closely tied to the work of the most prominent 19th-century Croatian guitarist and composer, Ivan Padovec, whose reputation resonated widely throughout Central Europe. In the following decades, the guitar in Croatia went through periods of growth and decline, at times integrated into the country’s musical life and at times pushed to its margins. A renewed interest emerged in the mid-20th century, particularly thanks to the contributions of Rudolf and Slavko Fumić and the pedagogical work of Stanislav Prek, the Slovenian guitarist whose success in Ljubljana inspired similar developments in Croatia. A key figure in reintroducing the guitar to Croatian music education was conductor and music educator Josip Završki, advisor for music instruction in SR Croatia (1961–1982). Through his collaboration with Prek, the guitar was added to the curriculum of most Croatian primary and secondary music schools in 1963, laying the foundation for further institutional growth. A new chapter began in 1974, when the Music Academy in Zagreb — active as a higher-education institution since 1921 — established the first four-year guitar program, which was also the first such program in the former Yugoslavia. The first professor was Stanko Prek, who retired in 1980 when Darko Petrinjak joined the Academy’s faculty. The establishment of the program sparked increased interest in the guitar among Croatian composers and contributed to the international successes of Croatian guitarists. This momentum led to the creation of concert series such as Guitarra viva, as well as the founding of the Croatian Association of Guitar Pedagogues, which in 1999 launched Gitara — an annual journal featuring articles by Croatia’s leading guitar artists and professors — further strengthening the guitar’s position in professional musical life. The development of guitar culture in Croatia also spurred advancements in higher education: a guitar department was opened at the Arts Academy in Split in 1997, followed by the Academy of Arts and Culture in Osijek in 2017. In the five decades that followed, the Zagreb Academy of Music guitar program produced numerous distinguished performers and pedagogues, helping to shape the so-called Zagreb Guitar School — today recognized as one of the leading guitar centres in this part of Europe.