Croatian president plays Beethoven to celebrate EU entry

1 July 2013, 13:19 | Updated: 1 July 2013, 13:23

To celebrate Croatia's entry into the European Union, the country's president Ivo Josipovic entertained with a rendition of Beethoven's Ode To Joy on the piano.

Celebrations across the rest of the country were more traditional, with fireworks and cannon fire, but Croatia's president decided to mark the occasion by playing Beethoven's eternal hymn to the brotherhood of mankind, the Ode to Joy from his Symphony No. 9.

Croatia is the 28th nation to join the EU, and does so two decades after separating from Yugoslavia.

Josipovic is himself a keen musician, having studied composition at the Zagreb Music Academy. He was also a lecturer at the academy between 1987 and 2004, and has written around 50 chamber music pieces for various ensembles.

During his 2010 election campaign, Jospiovic claimed that he would write an entire opera based on the murder of John Lennon. So far, he has not completed it.