The Cleveland Museum of Art presents Goran Bregovic’s Weddings and Funerals Orchestra at PlayhouseSquare’s Ohio Theatre on June 15th as part of their Viva and Gala Around Town series.

International musical sensation, Goran Bregovic, has been all over the map, musically, geographically and every which way. He has composed for artists as diverse as Iggy Pop and Cesaria Evora, the world’s foremost ‘morna’ performer.

Bregovic, a native of Yugoslavia, is best known as a film composer and has earned the admiration of the international film world for his more than 20 scores, particularly those he contributed to the films of Emir Kusturica's, including 'Time of the Gypsies, ,Arizona Dream, and ‘Underground.’ He served as music director for Sasha Baron Cohen’s ‘Borat’ movie.’ Critics have compared his film work to the great Italian composers, Ennio Merricone, Sergio Leone’s composer of choice, and Nino Rota, who scored ‘The Godfather’ and many of Fellini’s greatest films.

As if this weren’t enough, Bregovic played lead guitar for ‘White Button,’ a rock group that took Europe by storm in the mid ‘70s.

He also worked with Polish singer Kayah, collaborating on an album that sold over 650,000 copies (6 times platinum in Poland.) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goran_Bregovi%C4%87

So where does such a versatile musician go after achieving such great success throughout Europe? Well, he has chosen to fuse traditional Eastern European music with jazz and and rock and roll to create his current 40-piece rollicking ensemble, which is what he’ll be bringing to the Ohio Theatre on June 15th. The Orchestra features a Serbian gypsy band, a string ensemble, a men’s choir, and three Bulgarian singers. Bregovic marries the dance tunes of a raucous gypsy brass band with traditional Eastern European choral music—all with a rock and roll edge. Bregovic’s live concerts are an event, cathartic, delirious, and joyous.

Spain’s major daily newspaper reported that ‘Bregovic creates the most breathtaking music on this continent . . . intense, vigorous, colorful, passionate, exotic, fascinating.’

Don’t think this is your cup of tea? You might change your mind by sampling the You Tube video below and getting a taste of what this fabulous artist has in store for you.