No one plucks the strings like Ana Rucner.
The stunning Croatian cellist served symphonic sass as a part of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Eurovision 2016 act, helping deliver a very memorable performance for the country’s return to Eurovision after a three-year absence.
Although the group narrowly missed the finals, Ana’s contribution was totally on-point. She proved to Europe that the cello can be sexy — with wiwiblogger William describing her in the New York Times as “a woman in strategically sheer leggings” who “squeezed a cello with her gym-honed legs.” How many Eurovision artists get that billing?
Ana’s calendar has continued to fill up since Eurovision.
She was recently announced as the special guest of Spanish tenor Jose Carreras for the Croatian leg of his world tour (on June 23).
Now the 33-year-old beauty is preparing to headline a special summer solstice concert on June 21 with British piano prodigy Oliver Poole. Performing as part of World Music Day, the duo will perform at 04:45am sharp on Mount Srd, the highest point of Dubrovnik, just outside of the gorgeous walled city. Ana and Oliver will make it even more fab by filling the skies with their magical sounds and classical charisma.
Speaking exclusively to wiwibloggs, Ana explained how she and Oliver fell into each other’s orbit.
“I have known Oliver for two years. We met for the first time in Georgia and we’ve been good friends since then. Since our meeting, we’ve thought about creating something together. Oliver was my guest in Croatia last year. He had a solo concert in a beautiful palace, thrilling the public with his piano playing. Oliver will play with me this year at Srd and we are both looking forward to this spectacle. We are already in Zagreb recording new music in the studio. It was a great chance to also organize media events to support my summer projects. We had such a great time playing close to the beautiful fountains in the heart of Zagreb. Ultimately, we are just two souls with a similar energy thinking alike.”
World Music Day, which originated in Paris in 1982 as Fête de la Musique, is a series of free and accessible public events that take place each summer on June 21. Over the years it’s grown to include countless performances in over 700 cities around the world.
The special annual outdoor concert held in the Mount Srd amphitheatre will celebrate its fifth anniversary this year. Ana and Oliver will continue their collaboration at the Veceri na Gricu summer festival, which takes place in Zagreb from June 20 until June 24. They’ll film scenes for their new music video.
Oliver Poole has performed both solo and with orchestra at concert halls and festivals around the world. He’s known for his improvised interaction with audiences and his intuitive interpretation of music.
Wiwibloggs will attend the Summer Solstice concert and will film events on and off the mountain. Let’s do this!
Firm mountains. Must be a great view into the valley.
I love the sound of her cello <3<3<3