Croatian Accordion Students Win Big at Italy Festival

Learner News | 28.07.2026

Croatian Learner News reports on students from two Croatian music schools who competed at an international accordion festival in Italy, with impressive results across several categories.

Croatian Accordion Students Win Big at Italy Festival

The news in Croatian

Učenici iz dviju hrvatskih glazbenih1 škola sudjelovali su na međunarodnom festivalu harmonike2 u Italiji. Andreas Hlevnjak osvojio3 je prvo mjesto u kategoriji4 A s 98 bodova5. Orkestar škole iz Poreča pobijedio6 je s 99 od 100 bodova. Učenici iz Žminja također su dobili nagrade.

  1. glazben
    koji se odnosi na glazbu, koji pripada glazbi ↩︎
  2. harmonika  (f.)
    glazbeni instrument koji proizvodi zvuk propuštanjem zraka kroz metalne jezičce ↩︎
  3. osvojiti
    dobiti pobjedom, steći nešto natjecanjem ili borbom ↩︎
  4. kategorija  (f.)
    skupina ili razred u koji se svrstavaju stvari ili osobe prema određenim obilježjima ↩︎
  5. bod  (m.)
    jedinica kojom se mjeri uspješnost u natjecanju ili igri ↩︎
  6. pobijediti
    biti bolji od ostalih u natjecanju, ostvariti pobjedu ↩︎

Translation

Students from two Croatian music schools took part in an international accordion festival in Italy. Andreas Hlevnjak won first place in Category A with 98 points. The orchestra from the music school in Poreč won with 99 out of 100 points. Students from Žminj also received awards.

Text comprehension

Question 1: How many points did Andreas Hlevnjak score to win first place in Category A?

Andreas Hlevnjak scored 98 points to win first place in Category A.

Question 2: How many points did the orchestra from the Poreč school receive?

The orchestra from the Poreč school received 99 out of 100 points.

Vocabulary

CroatianEnglish
glazben musical
harmonika  (f.)accordion
osvojiti to win
kategorija  (f.)category
bod  (m.)point
pobijediti to win

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Read the full story

Students from two Croatian music schools have returned with top honours from the 33rd International Accordion Festival, held in the Italian town of Erbezzo, near Verona. The prestigious competition brings together soloists, chamber ensembles and orchestras from around the world.

From the Poreč Arts School, Andreas Hlevnjak, a pupil in the class of teacher Vilijana Šugar, took first place and the winner’s trophy in Category A (competitors up to ten years old), scoring 98 points. In Category B (up to twelve years old), Matteo Ukota, also from Šugar’s class, claimed the same top position. Fellow Category B competitor Diego Bernobić, from teacher Romina Legović’s class, finished second with 97 points, while Andrija Ptiček, taught by Diego Vitasović, placed third with 95 points.

Croatian Accordion Students Win Big at Italy Festival
Croatian Accordion Students Win Big at Italy Festival

The standout result came from the Poreč Arts School Accordion Orchestra, conducted by Tamara Ignjatović, which swept the competition by winning first place with 99 out of a possible 100 points.

Students from the Livi Accordion Centre in Žminj, a private school founded in 2016 and led by Enis Krizman, also performed well. Ten-year-old Nathaniel Glad took second place in Category B with 91 out of 100, having previously won the same category in 2024 with 96 points. Debutant Mario Rudan finished third in Category A with 90 points, while Deni Milotić also scored 90 to place third in Category C. Others in Category C included Danny Cvitko and Luka Hek, both scoring 85, Nino Sirotić with 84, and Leon Šugar with 83. In Category D, Davor Milanović placed fourth with 84 points.


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