"I’m very happy to be part of the Synergy project since I like to work and meet with composers and musicians from West-Balkan countries. Since we (Balkan countries) don’t have as developed a musical scene as big Western European musical centers, I find it very important to mutually connect, co-work, and create together projects of great quality. These collaborations may raise interest in contemporary classical music in our region in general, and hopefully, over time, create and gather ‘new audience’ that will appreciate contemporary art." H.S.

Helena Skljarov (Zagreb, January 1993) graduated musicology at Music Academy, University of Zagreb in 2017. In 2014. she begins the study of Composition at the same university in the class of professor Berislav Šipuš. In 2018. she received the Rector’s award for composition Pulsar which was premiered in Zagreb by students orchestra and conducted by maestro Quentin Hindley. She participated in various masterclasses; in 2018 she gains a scholarship for the masterclass ISA of the mdw (University for Music and Performing Arts Vienna), 2020 she participated in the Festival Mixtur of Barcelona, various masterclasses organized by the Music Academy of Zagreb and others. From autumn 2019 she lived and studied in Lyon as an ERASMUS student in the class of professor Martin Matalon. In June 2020, she was a composer in residence at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. As a musicologist, since 2017 she writes music critics and reviews of newly published editions of contemporary composers. In July 2020 she graduated composition under the mentorship of Berislav Šipuš with her opera Nothing. Almost for vocals, instruments, and electronics. In 2021 her string quartet Silence is selected for the 2021 ISCM World New Music Days in Shanghai and Nanjing.

Her work currently includes more than forty compositions for various solo instruments, larger or smaller chamber ensembles, one symphony and two operas. Currently she is particularly interested in interdisciplinary art: she is researching the relationship between image and sound trough music software and making videos of the process of painting and performances.
(See more at web page: www.helenaskljarov.com)