Concert: Balkan Stories – The Fragile Art of Coexistence

The concert Balkan Stories – The Fragile Art of Coexistence takes place on Thursday, 8 October 2026, at the Sarajevo Youth Theatre, starting at 18:00, as part of the MESS OFF programme.

Through a multidisciplinary artistic process, seven composers from the states of the former Yugoslavia reflect on the period of the Balkan wars and on the differing perspectives from which the peoples of the Western Balkans read their shared past today. Soberly, ironically or sarcastically, the seven works address existential experience caught between religious and ethnic belonging, nationalism, ex-Yugoslav nostalgia and EU enthusiasm, hyperinflation, physical and psychological violence – and the radical optimism of the post-war generation.

Performed by the ensemble Neue Vocalsolisten: Johanna Vargas (soprano), Susanne Leitz-Lorey (soprano), Chiara Ducomble (mezzo-soprano), Martin Nagy (tenor), Guillermo Anzorena (baritone) and Andreas Fischer (bass).

Produced by Musik der Jahrhunderte (Germany). Running time: 100 minutes.