Director

The band

The »Nabrežina Band« has been enstablished in 1897 with the name »Franz Josef Musik« by the members of the Military veterans circle of Trieste, active in Nabrežina. The first conductor was Ferdinand Majcen, a known musician and composer. Since then, the activity of the band has been interrupted only twice: because of the closeness of the front in the I. World War and after, under the italian fascist regime that forbid any activity of the slovene culture clubs in the area. During the II. World War many members of the band left to join the partisan army, the ones who stayed looked after the instruments and kept secretly practicing. In 1945 the band started to perform in public again under the lead of Josip Devetak. From his hands the baton passed to Stanko Mislej (1967), who was nominated Knight of the Republic for his commitment in culture and music. Mislej left the conductor role to Sergio Gratton, who is still the band conductor nowadays.

The Band is still based in Nabrežina, but in a new place, counting 45 musicians and performing in the surrounding of Trieste and in the nearby Slovenija. Thanks to the enthusiasm of the musicians and especially of the conductors Mislej and Gratton, the band has developed many cooperations: with the music school to introduce the younger generations to the music, with the National Association of Italian Music Bands to perform in different places in Italy like Boretto, Sassuolo, Montone, Orientano and Roncone, etc., with Music Bands abroad to partecipate to Music Festivals in other european countries like Croatia, Germany, Belgium, Austria, the Czech Republic and Hungary, growing friendships through the common love for music. The Band has an enormous repertoire of different kind of music for every occasion.