Concert of the Western Balkans Youth Orchestra (WBYO) in Sarajevo, which will be held on Friday, August 4, at the House of the Armed Forces of BiH as part of the WBYO tour called "WB Go Dance". The partner in the realization of the four-year project "WBYO: Accelerando" is the Association "Artissimo", announced the organizers.
On this occasion, a press conference was held today at the Center for Culture and Youth Center in Sarajevo, where the activities and goals of the project were presented, as well as the program of the Sarajevo concert.
Media representatives were addressed by the founder, artistic director and conductor of the orchestra maestro Desar Sulejmani, president of the Association "Artissimo" and assistant artistic director and conductor Fuad Šetić, as well as members and members of the orchestra.
Founder, artistic director and orchestra conductor Desar Sulejmani spoke about the establishment of the orchestra, and the beginning of work on the project "WBYO: Accelerando" which is being realized with the support of the European Union (EU) through the Creative Europe program, which will be implemented until 2027, with the aim of improving the development and operation of WBYO, and its establishment as a respectable international youth orchestra.
He pointed out that, although it was formed in 2019, the orchestra is implementing its first significant activities in 2021 after a break caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. In the last two years, WBYO has successfully achieved its multiple mission – providing a platform for professional development, connecting young musicians from the Western Balkans and contributing to long-term peace and interethnic cooperation, thus achieving artistic, educational, but also wider social significance.
He pointed out that the current WBYO tour called "WB Go Dance" brings together 65 young musicians from 15 different European countries, EU member states and non-EU countries, including 6 countries of the Western Balkans (Albania, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Kosovo, Lithuania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Russia, Serbia, Spain and Turkey). Connecting the Western Balkans with the rest of Europe expanded the initial mission of the project.
Fuad Šetić reflected on the activities of the tour during which, after two weeks of preparations in Durres (Albania), notable concerts have been held so far in Durres, Tetovo (North Macedonia) and Pristina (Kosovo). The tour continues in Sarajevo (BiH), Kotor (Montenegro), Novi Sad (Serbia), Berlin and Essen (Germany). He announced that the Sarajevo concert will include interesting works of exceptional interpretive and artistic level, pointing out that the program is based on orchestral stylized dances of Brahms, Kodaly, Khachaturian, Márquez, Shostakovich, which is alluded to by the name of the tour "WB Go Dance", and some of the works will be performed for the first time in Sarajevo.
He also pointed out that this project is also a platform that promotes the works of compositors of the Western Balkans, as evidenced by the fact that the current tour presented compositions by award-winning composers Drinor Zymberi, Lazar Đorđević, Angel Spiroski and Jetmir Zaganjari.
Fuad Šetić expressed gratitude to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of BiH and employees of the Embassy of BiH in Skopje who recognized the importance of the project and facilitated a very complex, time-consuming and exhausting visa process for members of the orchestra that are citizens of Kosovo, finalizing this process in record time.