Ero the Joker is the absolute all-time favourite opera among Croatians. After its immediate success in 1935 it toured through what was then the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, and today it continues to be a favourite selection for performance programmes in the countries of the former Yugoslavia. In Germany, however, this comic opera brimming with musical wit has to be assigned the status of a rarity. Its last performance prior to this one was in Munich in 1942 – in a German translation. But now back to the original: on Sunday 19 May 2019, the Munich Radio Orchestra under its principal conductor, the Croatian Ivan Repušić, presented a concert performance of Ero the Joker in Croatian. Gotovac’s music sparkles with Eastern European and Mediterranean folkloric influences. The composer is regarded as one of the founders of a Croatian national musical language that in the nineteenth century was fueled by the yearning for national identity. Here we hear music full of lyrical and witty moments and with magnificent arias and choral numbers. And its hero is a joker who challenges fate.

Cast:
- Đula: Valentina Fijačko Kobić (soprano)
- Doma: Jelena Kordić (mezzo-soprano)
- Mića (Ero): Tomislav Mužek (tenor)
- Sima: Ljubomir Puškarić (baritone)
- Marko: Ivica Čikeš (bass)
- A young shepherd: Suzana Češnjaj (soprano)