Cantores Maruli
Cantores Maruli (The Marulić Singers) is a vocal quartet from Split, Croatia, which has won several prestigious international awards.
Creation
Male vocal quartet Cantores Maruli was founded in 2007. The main goal of its creators was to perform and promote religious songs written by Croatian composers, both popular and neglected. The members of a quartet decided to pay a tribute to Marko Marulić, the famous Croatian author from the 15th century. He is often referred to as the father of Croatian literature. Marko Marulić who inspired this quartet is a famous Croatian author from Split (1450 – 1524). He wrote his works in three languages: Latin, Croatian and Italian (however, only three letters and two sonnets have been preserved). Marko was both a poet and a writer. As a writer, he created instructions for practical Christian living, expressed his opinion on morality, theology, culture and history. He also wrote scientific works, from an architecture essay with technical details to a description of animal anatomy. As a poet, he wrote short poems of various kinds.
Members
Cantores Maruli consists of four singers: Marin Kapor Kaporelo (Tenor I), Zdravko Kraljević (Tenor II), Joško Perić (Baritone) and Blaženko Juračić (Bass & Musical Director.)
Repertoire
Musicians chose not to limit themselves and use material from several centuries and styles: from Gregorian chant to Croatian Glagolitic singing and Bugarštice (fisherman songs from Croatia into the time of Renaissance), from Renaissance works by De Victoria, Palestrina, Gallus, Motovunjanin to works by contemporary Croatian composers (Igor Kuljerić, Josip Hatze, Blaženko Juračić and others.). They perform not only in Croatia, but also in Italy and Macedonia. Thus, They have been singing at Pontifical Institute of St. Jerome in Rome and Arezzo, Ohrid and Bitola.
Rewards
At the II. International competition of chamber ensembles "Sounds of June" in Petrinja in Croatia, Cantores Maruli won "The best male chamber ensemble" award. Cantores was the first Croatian group after 20 years that was invited to the renowned 57th International Choir Competition in Arezzo, Italy, where they shared the first place with the Norwegian choir Boler Vokalensemble from Oslo.