May 28, 2015 | Thursday
For the first time a group of musicians from Kosovo had the opportunity to be part of the international forum “Classical: NEXT 2015”, together with around 1000 other classical music professionals from all over the world. Their participation in this forum, which was held in Rotterdam, Netherlands, from 20-23 May, was enabled by the EU “Culture for All” project in Kosovo.
The Kosovo team was represented with the motto “Kosovo through the music”, and it was comprised of Dardan Selimaj – Director of International DAM Festival, Baki Jashari – Director of Kosovo Philharmony, Besa Llugiqi – soprano and Visar Kuçi – violinist.
The forum provided a rare opportunity for Kosovo to promote the classical music in front of an international audience and to build new bridges of cooperation. The Director of Kosovo Philhamorny, Baki Jashari, said for EUICC that this event served to defy prejudices that some of participants had for Kosovo, as a post conflict country. He expressed his exultant joy for the reception of the forum “Classical-NEXT 2015” for Kosovo.
“It is surprising for us how fast Kosovo is becoming part of the agenda. I believe that the meetings we had, will result in a real project in the future. The forum participants see Kosovo as a destination where they can present their projects through Philharmonics, given that in addition to the Symphonic orchestra, we also have the chorus, which made our offer in Rotterdam more generous”, Jashari said.
Head of the Kosovo Philharmony evaluated the cooperation with other countries in the field of music as a very necessary and important thing for promoting Kosovo as a new state. He recalls the time when he used to live and work in Slovenia and when he had the opportunity to participate as a conductor in many concerts in Europe and America. He wishes the same opportunity and experience for members of the Kosovo Philharmony, the institution he leads since 2006.