Concert Performance: "ISTRA TI MILA MATERINA"
An acclaimed actress, singer-songwriter, producer, and ambassador of the Labin dialect of Čakavian, Elis Lovrić has spent more than two decades bringing together music, theatre, and the cultural heritage of Istria through her original artistic work. She is the first Croatian singer-songwriter to have performed at both seats of the European Parliament, in Brussels and Strasbourg, and is the composer of the official anthem of the Pula Film Festival. For her international artistic achievements, she has received the Crystal Pine Award for Special Contribution to Art and Music and the EWILA – European Women's International Leadership Award, becoming the first Croatian laureate and one of only eight women worldwide to receive this distinction.
Her songs and music-theatre projects have been performed both in Croatia and abroad, demonstrating that emotion can transcend linguistic and cultural boundaries, and that even a small language can find its way to audiences around the world.
Lovrić writes and performs music in more than fifteen languages and dialects while remaining deeply rooted in the language where it all began—the Labin dialect of Čakavian. It is precisely this authenticity that has established her as one of the most distinctive contemporary artistic voices of Istria.
The concert performance "Istra ti mila materina" is based on the stage production of the same title premiered by the Istrian National Theatre – City Theatre Pula (INK Pula), directed in 2022 by Rok Olaf Pečečnik. In the original production, Elis Lovrić portrayed the title role— Istria itself—and composed the original score that forms the emotional backbone of the performance. At the invitation of INK Pula's General Manager, Gordana Jeromela Kaić, this special concert version was created, bringing together the production's most memorable musical moments in a more intimate format. Blending theatre, song, and original music, it transforms Kaštel into a place where the sea, stone, memory, and the identity of Istria come together.
