At the concert of the Sebastian String Quartet, held on 23 November 2025 at Croatian Radiotelevision’s (HRT) Studio Bajsić and broadcast live on the Third Programme of Croatian Radio, host Gordana Krpan presented the ensemble’s new CD during the intermission following the performance of Bruno Bjelinski’s Second String Quartet. The recording features two works by Fran Lhotka, including the Concerto for String Quartet from the publishing catalogue of the Music Information Centre (MIC), which also served as the occasion for a brief interview.

In conversation with the host, Jelena Vuković, Head of MIC, emphasized the Centre’s core mission: the promotion of Croatian music and the preservation of national musical heritage, as well as the importance of the publishing activity through which valuable and sometimes forgotten works are brought back to concert stages. She also noted that MIC’s frequently used motto, #BezNotaNemaIzvedbe (“Without Scores There Is No Performance”), found clear confirmation in this new release, presented in the year marking the 100th anniversary of the premiere of Lhotka’s work (20 November 1925, Zika Quartet).

Vuković also highlighted the long-term nature of many MIC projects, such as the extensive publication of the works of Dora Pejačević, initiated in 1999, whose compositions are today performed worldwide. She further pointed to the success of other MIC editions, including Miroslav Miletić’s Dance for Solo Violin, one of the most frequently performed Croatian works abroad according to data from ZAMP.

Speaking about the complexity of preparing printed music editions, she reflected on the challenges posed by the availability and legibility of sources, multiple versions of the same work, and legal considerations:

“The greatest challenges are always the sources – illegible manuscripts, different versions of the same work, and sometimes even missing parts. (…) Finding the rightful holders of copyright often turns into a small detective undertaking. With large-scale works, the magnitude of the project itself becomes an additional challenge, as illustrated by the fact that Lisinski’s Porin and Love and Malice were published as modern, complete printed editions for the first time almost 150 years after their creation.”

The concert, which featured works by Boško Petrović (in an arrangement by Tomislav Uhlik), Anton Webern, Ludwig van Beethoven, and, notably, Bruno Bjelinski, was accompanied by an exhibition of works by Vida Meić, as well as a “Minute for Poetry” segment with interpretations of poems by Tin Ujević and Sven Adam Ewin, performed by Ivan Colarić. The programme was edited and hosted by Gordana Krpan.