BALKAN AFFAIRS is a Biennale project aimed at opening up space for the development of young composers in the Balkan region, encouraging them to exchange ideas and understand each other’s cultural similarities and differences. That is, the war that led to the breakup of Yugoslavia and the challenges of transition, which is, in fact, the fundamental preoccupation of all compositions, created unequal conditions for composers living in different Balkan states. Although they were just beginning their lives when it took place, these six composers (and many others) from every part of the Balkans, from Slovenia to the Republic of North Macedonia, are still affected by its consequences to this day. Moreover, the extent to which the current situation with the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine has also contributed to the unfavorable parameters cannot be overemphasized. This project seeks to provide equal opportunities to all six composers, while also striving to encourage the region to reconnect through a contemporary and more inclusive perspective. Cooperation with an internationally renowned European ensemble, Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, as co-producer of the project, will undoubtedly contribute to this effort.

SCREAdoM
The central theme of this piece is the suffering of innocent victims of war, that are helpless and are not able to run or fight the attack. It focuses on the horror of the moment(s) of the traumatic event as well as the reverberations of it (PTSD) and its effects on several mental aspects of the victims life after the attack. An aspect of Performance Art is implemented in this piece as well. A clean operatic voice shifting to extreme vocal techniques known in the world of extreme Metal vocalists and keeping the same pitch is used to, on the microlevel, bring you into the short but extremely traumatic experience and stretch the seconds of the attack with the sounds of a torturous scream coming from a deep place of pain, horror and uncertainty.

MORE INFO…