Croatia Camp

Croatia Camp

June 9-17, 2027

  • Leaders: Mary Cay Brass, Anita Hudjek, Jurica Petar Petrač & Teodora Stojanovska

  • Rehearsal Venue: Hotel Varaždin, Varaždin, Croatia

  • Tuition: 
    - $1700 in a twin room
    - $1700 in a double room
    - $2100 for single room (limited availability)

Apply online NOW

“I don't know if I can put into words the excitement you stir up with the amazing music you find and bring to us through your travels and your international contacts. We get a visceral experience of different worlds when we sing a people's music as they would sing it, as opposed to through the lens of an arranger. Over and over, I found myself exclaiming out loud at some surprising cadence, some wild harmonic digression. To be able to sing this music, to learn what the words mean, was to participate in cultures worlds away from mine --such a privilege.”
-Adult camp participant

 

Village Harmony is thrilled to offer for the first time, a camp in beautiful Croatia. The camp will be held in the charming northern Baroque town of Varaždin, once called “Little Vienna.” - a town full of beautiful architecture, parks, castles with a population of about 45,000. It’s located about 50 miles from the capitol, Zagreb.

Our camp will be led by veteran Village Harmony leader, Mary Cay Brass, who lived in Croatia while on a Fulbright studying vocal and dance traditions. Mary Cay will teach songs from various American traditions. Our Croatian leader will be Anita Hudjek. Anita sings and dances in the Croatian National Ensemble, LADO as well as in the women’s ensemble “Ladarice” She also leads folk ensembles in a nearby villages. Croatia has an  enormously rich variety of vocal and dance traditions from which she will choose songs and dances for our camp. 

The camp will have two guest teachers. Jurica Petar Petrač is a Croatian conductor and music director of the Croatian National Ensemble LADO. His expertise is sought after globally. He will teach the camp a set of Dalmation klapa songs - a rich tradition, still quite alive all along the Adriatic coast.

In addition, we will have our friend Teodora Stojanovska, from Skopje, North Macedonia. “Tea”is a dynamic singer and dancer who taught at two Village Harmony camps in Macedonia in 2023 and 2025. She sings and dances with  the Macedonian National Ensemble, Tanec. Tea will teach us a set of traditional Macedonian songs to compliment our repertoire.

The camp will be a residential camp in the lovely and luxurious Hotel Varaždin, where we will also rehearse. After an initial few days of intense rehearsing, there will be field trips  - visiting the beautiful Trakoščan Castle, a visit to a village where our leader, Anita, leads a folk ensemble as well as performing a couple of mini concerts and a final bigger concert in Varaždin.

There is a lot of early interest in this camp. We have a limit of 28 places for 28 singers. Sign up early!

Meet our Leaders

  • Mary Cay Brass

    Mary Cay Brass of Athens, Vermont is a long time veteran of the earliest years of Village Harmony camps. She directed the 80 -voice Greenfield Harmony for 25 years and continues to direct the wildly popular 70-voice River Singers in southern Vermont. She was also a founding music director of the Hallowell Hospice Singers. Mary Cay is also a dynamic contra-dance keyboardist and accordion player who focuses on Scandinavian, French Canadian and Balkan traditions. 

    She spent two and a half years in the former Yugoslavia on a Fulbright Scholarship in ethnomusicology researching regional vocal traditions in Croatia and Serbia. She has published two book/CD collections of music from that region, Village Harmony, Songs of the Balkans and Balkan Bridges.

    Mary Cay has also organized and led six Village Harmony trips in the Republic of North Macedonia, four in Bosnia and Hercegovina and co-led camps in Quebec and Lithuania. This coming summer she will lead the first Village Harmony program in Croatia.

  • Anita Hudek

    Anita Huđek is professional dancer and singer in the Croatian National Ensemble “Lado”. Anita is a choreographer, researcher and a great enthusiast of Croatian traditions and cultural heritage. She  leads several amateur ensembles in and around Zagreb, (Bratina and Jalžabet).

    Anita is also a solo performer, a soprano who also performs in musical theater. She frequently teaches Croatian folklore, dancing and singing at workshops, seminars and schools in Croatia and also in the Netherlands, Germany and Austria.

    Anita will bring us on a journey through the many rich folkloric regions of Croatia; from the coastal islands to the Slavonian plains, from the river regions of Posavina and Podravina to the Croatian population of Bosnia.

  • Jurica Petar Petrač

    Jurica Petar Petrač is a Croatian conductor, music theoretician and the music director and conductor of Croatian National Ensemble LADO.

    Jurica is highly active in Croatian choral scene, maintaining leadership of Cantores Sancti Marci Choir and collaborations with Klapa Cesarice and Antiphonus ensemble. His expertise is sought after globally, leading to frequent conducting and vocal workshops around the globe.

    Jurica will teach a set of Dalmatian klapa songs at this year’s Croatia camp.

  • Teodora Stojanovska

    Teodora Gjorgieva Stojanovska is an ethnologist, folklorist, and professional dancer and singer in the Macedonian National Ensemble “Tanec”. She has also been a member of the ethno group Synthesis traveling throughout Europe and Canada.

    Teodora  regularly teaches Macedonian folklore and dance at workshops, seminars and schools and has taught at two past Village Harmony camps in North Macedonia. She will join our Croatia camp bringing a set of Macedonian songs to our camp repertoire.

Hotel Varaždin

Hotel Varazdin in Varaždin offers air-conditioned rooms with private bathrooms, free WiFi, and modern amenities. Each room includes a work desk, mini-bar, and TV. Additional facilities include a sauna and city views. We will be eating breakfast and a second meal most days at the hotel. A continental buffet breakfast served with warm dishes, fresh pastries, fruits, cheese, and juice will start our days. Vegetarian and vegan options will be available.

View the rooms at Hotel Varaždin.