BALKAN AFFAIRS

BALKAN AFFAIRS

The fragile art of living together

Triptych

A project by Neue Vocalsolisten

Part 1: Concert

Hanan Hadžajlić: Requiem Ex Machina

for six amplified voices (2022/23)

Jug Marković: NULA

for six voices (2022)

Ana Pandevska: Electroacoustic mantra From Ex YU to EU

for soprano, mezzo-soprano and fixed media (2023)

Nina Perović: Apparatus
for six singing voices and electronics (2025)

Ylli Daklani: When all the leaves have been burned

for three voices (2025)

Petra Strahovnik: SCREAdoM

for five voices, sound installation and electronics (2023)

Helena Skljarov: The Blue Giraffe

for five voices, electronics and video (2023)

In an experiential artistic process, seven composers from the former Yugoslavian states reflect on the period of the Balkan Wars and the different perspectives from which the people of the Western Balkans interpret their shared history today.
Sober, ironic or sarcastic, the seven works speak of existential experiences in the clash of religions and ethnicities, of nationalism, ex-Yu nostalgia and EU hype, hyperinflation, physical and psychological violence, and the radical optimism of a post-war generation. A concert of great media and aesthetic diversity and utmost urgency.

Part 2: Video Installation

The Fragile Art of Living Together

8-channel video installation

Just how explosive, stressful and undesirable this retrospective is for their parents’ generation–and how new this experience was for the young composers themselves–is impressively demonstrated by the 8-part video installation, which can be experienced throughout the festival in the Theaterhaus foyer, but also in the portal on the ECLAT website.

Part 3: Coda

Ana Pandevska: Electroacoustic mantra »From ex YU to EU«.

Pass the word/clap game for six voices & tape

Nina Perović: Fracture for two male voices, video and electronics ^WP

Helena Skljarov: New Work for tenor solo ^WP

Petra Strahovnik: UnScream. The Voiceless–The Starving

Children in War Zones for tape and five singers

Hanan Hadžajlić: VOICES for voice, tape and video (2025/26)

I. Children of Abraham    II. My name is Eve

Jug Marković: #itistime for video, electronics and two voices

Aphoristic insights into an uncertain future: The Coda is the composers’ artistic commentary after three intense years of reflection, during which they rediscovered themselves and each other.

Neue Vocalsolisten

Johanna Vargas, soprano/Susanne Leitz-Lorey, soprano/Chiara Ducomble, contralto/Martin Nagy, tenor/Guillermo Anzorena, baritone/Andreas Fischer, bass

Video consultation and compilation : Mladen Ivanović

Matthias Schneider-Hollek: sound director

The concert will be recorded by SWR Kultur.

The broadcast date will be announced at a later time.