Montage Week, one of the most significant activities within the #synergy Sharpening the capacities of the classical music industry in the Western Balkans project, will take place from April 28th to May 3rd at the Creative Hub in Kotor, Montenegro. It represents the final preparation for a big summer festival tour during which 12 new compositions, written as part of the project, will be premiered.

KotorArt, as the lead project partner in the city of Kotor, will welcome all #synergy project participants; 12 composers, over 20 musicians, all partners, and cultural researchers. During an intensive week at the Kotor Creative Hub, musicians and composers will work together on preparing new pieces, while young cultural managers will present the results of their research on the position of artistic music in the region. The grand finale of Montage Week is scheduled for May 3rd, when, during a public conference scheduled for 11 am, composers will present themselves to the audience and share their experiences about creating new compositions, the overall process, and the approach while working on the given topics. As well there will be a discussion about the publication of the Classical Music Production Guidebook, which is the result of six workshops held over the previous three years in six different project partner countries. This guidebook will be the first of its kind in the region, and it will summarize approaches to producing classical music in the Western Balkans.

The European cooperation project - #synergy: Strengthening the Capacity of the Classical Music Industry in the Western Balkans, initiated by the KotorArt International Festival and supported by the European Commission through the Creative Europe program, is entering its big finale this summer. During two festival evenings, 12 new compositions created as part of the project will be premiered in all project partners’ festivals.

Let us remind you, the main goals of the #synergy: Sharpening the capacities of the classical music industry in the Western Balkans project are the professional development and connecting of cultural professionals, primarily those who work in the music festival and classical music sector, encouraging composers to write new pieces inspired by the local heritage of partner countries, and facilitating networking and collaboration between young musicians, composers, and classical music organizations in the Western Balkans. The project is co-funded by the EU Creative Europe program and brings together six important festivals from the region: the KotorArt Don Branko’s Music Days (Montenegro), Dubrovnik Summer Festival (Croatia), Belgrade Summer Festival (Serbia), Ljubljana Festival (Slovenia), Vox Baroque Festival (Albania), and the Chopin Piano Fest Pristina (Kosovo).