The winners of the "My Split Summer" contest are:

First prize: Ivan Peša for the story "Replacing the Indisposed Aida" - 6 x 2 tickets for the 70th Split Summer Festival  
Second prize: Alen Krstulović for the photo and story about meeting the York spouses during the 44th Split Summer Festival - 4 x 2 tickets for the 70th Split Summer Festival  
Third prize: Mario Pavčević for "Ante Topić, from the Rehearsal" - 3 x 2 tickets for the 70th Split Summer Festival

Replacing the Indisposed Aida

Aida! The magnificent "Aida", performed at Peristyle, on a summer evening during the Split Summer Festival.
The audience, clad in colorful, light white outfits, with sun-kissed, radiant faces, mingling scents of warm bodies, and fans fluttering like nocturnal butterflies of all colors...
Among the familiar faces in the third row was Ivanka Boljkovac, in flip-flops, as casual as one can be. Unusual for the prominent, but not unseen.
The orchestra, Aida, the masterful Ljiljana Molnar Talajić, Egyptians and Ethiopians, pharaohs and princes, soldiers and slaves... They all filled the beautiful stage, and immense power and beauty poured over the audience, the stone columns, the centuries-silent stone walls of the Palace, ascending to the sky, to the stars...
And then the intermission after the first act. Enthusiastic comments, people rising from their seats, a lively commotion, as if the colors themselves were busy painting, and it was all pleasantly enchanting... But after the expected break, there was no announcement for the second act. Half an hour passed, then another five minutes, then ten minutes, and an hour went by, leaving us with the question of what was happening: would the performance continue?
(Much later, perhaps written somewhere, it was said that the prima donna Molnar Talajić was indisposed.)
The conductor appeared before the orchestra, patiently waiting to express gratitude for the patience, announcing that the performance would continue with another Aida...? On the stage stepped a tanned, fully costumed Ivanka Boljkovac from the third row of the audience...

Surprised, we didn't know what to think but decided to listen and watch.
The silence of anticipation turned to admiration, and by the end of the extraordinary performance, there were ovations for Ivanka, who was a guest. As it was said later, and perhaps written somewhere, she was unprepared, had not rehearsed, had not expected... Thus, respect and admiration for Ivanka remained forever, and from that time on, we have considered her a prima donna, regardless of who else might be declared as such. We regard her that way.
Ivan Peša