Founded in the mid-1970s, the Osor Musical Evenings continue to adhere to its primary premise even in the fifth decade of its continuing existence – encouraging the creation of Croatian musical works. The Renaissance Cathedral of Osor, the central stage of the festival, has so far hosted nearly eight hundred concerts with over three hundred works commissioned by the Festival from all generations of composers. The festival programmes, in addition to canonical classical music works from all periods, examine works of key figures of modern and contemporary music in Croatia, including Boris Papandopulo, Stjepan Šulek, Ivan Brkanović, Miroslav Miletić, Igor Kuljerić, Stanko Horvat and others.
Their works are performed by national and international ensembles and soloists. In addition to resident ensembles, including the Croatian Radiotelevision Choir and Orchestra, Zagreb Soloists, Zagreb Quartet and Cantus Ensemble, the festival regularly welcomes prestigious international performers such as the Voces8, L’Arpeggiata and many others.
In addition to being a stage for new voices of the local classical music scene and related genres, the Osor Music Evenings continue to nurture tradition. From the very beginning, the repertoire policy encouraged musicological research that resulted in basic literature (e.g. the collection of works Musical Baroque in Croatia, 1987) or the discovery of dozens of lost compositions by lesser-known authors. The encouragement of contemporary readings of musical heritage, traditional and sacred, was set out in the first festival commission, Boris Papandopulo's Osor Requiem , a cantata for mixed choir, soloists, narrator, organ, percussion, sopile and electric guitar.
