Project author, producer and accordion soloist: Mirko Skarica

String ensemble:

Mislav Salopek, concertmaster
Domagoj Gjurašin, first violin
Donja Rakoš, leader of the second violins
Iskra Voltolini, second violin
Ivor Ivančić, viola leader
Josip Veselic, viola
Katarina Evetović, cello leader
Hillary Karuza, cello
Piero Malkoč, double bass

Other performers:

Borna Augustinović, percussion
Ana Stanković, piano

Dramaturgy: Karla Leko
Screenplay: Tijana Grumić
Animation: Jelena Prljević, Eduardo Rosa
Text: Magdalena Mrčela
Actor: Donat Zeko
Production Assistant: Nikola Jurić

The multimedia concert The Stranger Within presents a unique and exciting approach to musical storytelling. The concert, which is enhanced by animation, scenography, lighting, narration and contemporary dance, is designed as a symbolic journey through the world of archetypes. Music for classical accordion and chamber orchestra, connected with animation, scenography, lighting, dance and narration, forms a rounded thematic and aesthetic whole. Together, these elements shape a powerful and emotional story about human duality, personal responsibility and the importance of Truth, inspired by the works of Carl Gustav Jung and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

Mirko Škarica, soloist and producer, is a professional accordionist from Croatia. He completed his undergraduate studies at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava and his master's degree at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

“The idea for this project came from a love of music and a fascination with timeless thoughts found in psychology, philosophy and religion. Over the years, both privately and professionally, I have been fortunate to meet people who are top artists in their fields and who share the same inspiration. I am honored that they have decided to embark on this journey with me. These ideas often arise intuitively and are difficult to fully express in words, but they shape our deepest identity, which is why art is the ideal way to convey them. We believe that we are creating something truly special, something that audiences will recognize. Through a fresh, exciting and different approach to classical music, we want to provide viewers with a powerful, immersive experience of exploring our metaphysical reality.”

The narrative presented through animation follows the growth of a child — from birth to the moment when he first becomes aware of the "Stranger within himself". Drawing on Jung's archetype of the "shadow", the story is told through the eyes of a child playing with a paper airplane and emphasizes the importance of accepting one's own duality and authentic life. The shadow, which the child initially ignores, gradually becomes darker and more threatening, and the climax comes when the individual loses the battle with it. This turning point is depicted by a contemporary dance in the play of light and darkness, which directly connects to the animation and leads into the second part of the concert.

This thematic line is further developed through the experience of Russian writer and Nobel laureate Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. His work The Gulag Archipelago testifies to the darkness of the human soul that rejects the Truth, indulges in collective lies, and avoids personal responsibility.

The final part of the concert returns to the musical motifs from the beginning and pays tribute to all who lived in the truth, even when they had to pay the highest price for it.

The epilogue, inspired by Hannah Arendt's A Report on the Banality of Evil, depicts the same child as an adult. As a military pilot, he carries out an order to bomb a city, and then finds himself among the ruins, faced with the consequences of his actions. Kneeling before a destroyed cathedral, he finds a paper airplane that awakens a suppressed glimmer of light—the moment in which he finally becomes aware of the Shadow that has possessed him.

The musical-narrative flow is built from fragments of the text of TS Eliot's poem Burnt Norton, the first of the Four Quartets, published in 1936, in which he deals with the relationship between past, present and future, and the idea that meaning can only be sensed in a fully lived and conscious present moment. Through the symbolism of the garden and silence, which he finds in the country house of Burnt Norton, the poet meditates on missed opportunities, time and the search for true reality. The text begins an arc of musical dramatic growth, which begins with the composition Journey by Predrag Radisavljević (1993), a Serbian contemporary composer and accordionist, which leads on a journey through a series of movements, which follow the inner journey from the initial order and meaning (Logos), through the cheerfulness and life energy (Cheer), to the gradual encounter with the Shadow that grows into a restless dance (Shadow dance) and leads to facing one's own abyss (The Abyss), while Possession marks the moment when darkness takes over, but also the point of complete disclosure and facing the deepest parts of one's own nature. It is followed by

The composition Archipelago Gulag by Viktor Vlasov (1936), a 20th-century Russian composer and accordionist, who incorporates folklore influences from various Russian regions and countries in which he lived into his work, absorbing Mongolian folklore influences in early childhood, where he received his first button accordion, and later discovering the exceptional possibilities of the bayan, a special type of chromatic button accordion developed in Russia. The child's growth towards discovering his shadow, the stranger within, continues with the composition Malica by Predrag Radisavljević, and then with the composition Razrušena katedrala by Václav Trojan (1907-1983), a 20th-century Czech composer of the neoclassical style, who often finds inspiration in Czech folklore. The arc ends with P. Radisavljević's Finale.

Zrinka Matić

Mirko Škarica is a Croatian accordionist, soloist and author of multimedia projects, born in Duće near Omiš. His love for music developed in childhood, and the path from hobby to professional calling was shaped through education and competitions during his high school days in Makarska, where he achieved notable results in domestic and international competitions. Of particular note are the first prizes at the prestigious International Accordion Competition in Pula and the title of absolute winner and the award for best interpretation at the Erbezzo Competition in Italy.

He began his accordion studies in Bratislava at the Academy of Performing Arts in the class of Prof. Boris Lenk, where he completed his undergraduate studies, and then graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in London. Along with his intensive concert activity and training, Škarica simultaneously developed an interest in psychology, which he is also currently studying.

As an artist, he is particularly focused on connecting music with other art forms. He is the author and producer of the multimedia project The Stranger Within, which combines music for accordion and orchestra with animation, narration, scenography and contemporary dance. The project was created over several years in collaboration with an international team of young artists, and premiered in 2022 at the Croatian National Theatre in Split, where it received a strong response from the audience and critics. After the premiere, it was also performed at the Split Summer Festival and on several guest tours in Croatia and abroad.

In addition to her artistic work, Škarica also works as a pedagogue and develops her own projects, striving to bring classical music closer to a wider audience through a contemporary and interdisciplinary approach.

TS Eliot: Burnt Norton

Predrag Radisavljević: Journey

Logos
Cheer
Shadow dance
The Abyss
Possession

Viktor Vlasov: Archipelago Gulag (orchestration by P. Radisavljević)

Predrag Radisavljević: Malice

Václav Trojan: Ruined Cathedral

Predrag Radisavljević: Final