Twenty-six years ago, a young boy full of dreams and hopes left Albania aspiring to master himself in art and music in Europe. Since he was a child in Shkodra, he had set his heart on music so, as a grown-up, he studied Piano, Chamber Music, and Conducting in Germany. After graduation, his artistic journey went across Europe, bringing him back to Albania with all European values and experiences. Present in the South East of Europe, through master classes, concerts, operas, or the European Summer Music Academy in Kosovo, Desar Sulejmani, acknowledged music's role in bridging nations and cultures.

"I saw the need to be connected in a region surrounded by European countries but still outside the blue-yellow area. Then I had the idea to unite Balkan countries in a joint journey toward the European Union, to show that through music and culture we can join Europe earlier than with politics," says Sulejmani, the initiator and co-founder of the Western Balkans Youth Orchestra.

WBYO

Founded in 2019 as a platform for the cooperation of young professional musicians of the 6 Non-EU Western Balkans countries (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia), Western Balkans Youth Orchestra seeks to unite the region's youth, breaking down barriers and fostering long-lasting peace, featuring genres from classical to pop and rock music.

"We have played music in all the Balkan countries, celebrating the region's culture and its diversity. Over the years with different projects, we have played famous music dances from the Balkans, re-orchestrated by young artists. This year we have an open call for young composers, to re-propose for our orchestra, a musical retouch of the best rock and pop songs from the Balkans. In this way, we enrich the orchestral repertoire with new compositions originating from the region, giving the same scene, at the same time to all the cultures living around us," Sulejmani explains.

WBYO

Nourished since the first steps in childhood, the genuine love for music grows following fingers touching the piano, the violin, the flute. Feeling the music sounds with the eyes closed, an artist creates a connection with the instrument, a connection beyond the commitment. All this internal and personal relationship is what they tend to show in all the concerts, transmitting their feelings through music notes to the audience, sensing, creating, and sharing the connection. The platform for young musicians works across national, ethnic, religious, and cultural divides, contributing to ongoing cross-border and interethnic cooperation. The mission and the challenge of the orchestra are uniting artists in the Balkans, overcoming history and conflicts. “It’s like breathing through music with the same rhythm. Speaking through music. Feeling it. We are careful not to hurt national feelings. We support initiatives that connect countries, emphasizing what unites us more than what divides us,” notes Sulejmani.

Resembling the European Union, Western Balkans Youth Orchestra respects the cultural, linguistic, and traditional diversity of all the artists playing, but now communicating with the same universal language of notes, tones, chords, and sounds. “We are not politicians. We show our example of cooperation being on the stage, with more than 60 artists from 10 countries playing music from Europe or the Balkans,” tells Sulejmani. Celebrating this diversity, culture, and combined efforts in the region, Western Balkans Youth Orchestra is leading Europe Week’s Programme, with concerts at the Multi-functional Centre “Xixëllonja” in Shkodra and the Elder’s Home in Gjirokastra. “The mission of art is also supporting those who don’t have all the possibilities we have, those who need care and attention. Sometimes art must travel to audiences,” says Sulejmani, artistic director, and conductor of the orchestra.

WBYO

With artists from different countries, cultures, and religions, Western Balkans Youth Orchestra’s main concert will be held on Europe Day at the Concert Hall of The University of Arts in Tirana. “It will be a musical journey in Europe, showing the rich culture of the continent, combining styles and eras. We wanted to have a connection between the founding countries of the European Union and art nowadays. So, we have a world premiere music piece from a Luxembourger composer who lives in Kosovo, and then music from Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands and also Albania. It is the idea of a tree with a lot of branches, every one of which symbolizes an area or a culture. We will play from Mozart to Tish Daija or Limos Dizdari, a musical journey of a united Europe ending with Albanian music to leave a lasting impression of a country that wants to be part of the big European family,” says Desar Sulejmani discovering just some details from the concert’s program. For Desar, all started pursuing a dream in Europe, and now celebrating inclusiveness, diversity, and human rights through music is the shortest way to find Europe here.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION 

The Creative Europe programme invests in actions that reinforce cultural diversity and respond to the needs and challenges of the cultural and creative sectors. The main objectives of the programme are to safeguard, develop and promote European cultural and linguistic diversity and heritage, increase the competitiveness and economic potential of the cultural and creative sectors, in particular the audiovisual sector. The novelties of the programme contribute to the recovery of these sectors, reinforcing their efforts to become more inclusive, more digital and environmentally more sustainable. It aims to support initiatives promoting and enhancing artistic and cultural cooperation at European level, actions encouraging the competitiveness, innovation and sustainability of the European audiovisual sector and initiatives promoting innovative actions and collaboration across the audiovisual and cultural sectors.