The Professional Education and Classical Music workshop, organized by the Chopin Piano FEST, will be held on 9th and 11th of May in Pristina, Kosovo as part of the EU project #synergy Sharpening the capacities of the classical music industry in the Western Balkans.

The Professional Education and Classical Music workshop will strive to address specific issues, exchange mutual experiences, and share individual know-how and effective means when it comes to different approaches and possibilities for knowledge and experience acquiring both in performing sector and in CCI sector as its main objectives along with discussing specific skills of artists and cultural professionals necessary to build a professional practice and develop the classical music industry.

Talks from the keynote speakers Prof. Lejla Pula, Professor of Piano at University of Prishtina, Hajrullah Ceku, Minister of Youth and Culture of Republic of Kosovo, Arberie Nagavci, Minister of Education of Republic of Kosovo and representative from Creative Europe Desk Kosovo and EU Commission in Kosovo) regarding policies for a sustainable development and growth of classical music audiences will comprise the workshop’s first session.

Following the first session, the second one will focus on presentation of artistic education structures in partner countries and education programs in the partnering festivals: KotorArt Don Branko´s Music Days (Kotor), Dubrovnik Summer Festival (Croatia), Ljubljana Festival (Slovenia), Belgrade Festivals Center (Serbia), Vox Baroque (Albania) and Chopin Piano Fest (Kosovo), which will be presented by their festival directors and classical experts.

Overall, six workshops of which this is the fourth one are being organized as part of #synergy project for the cultural operators in order to strengthen their capacities in areas of classical music finance, programming, production, professional education, audience development and marketing & PR skills. Through these workshops and networking, cultural operators and managers will enhance their personal and professional networks and open up opportunities for co-production projects at the regional and European level.

Each workshop is monitored by a group of researchers which will make recommendations and comments at the end of the capacity building process that will result in a guidebook; a unique document and tool in the creative industries which will be a lasting contribution to the development of this sector. 

The project #synergy: Sharpening the capacities of the classical music industry in the Western Balkans is co-funded by the EU Creative Europe programme 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 Prishtina (Kosovo). The project aims to provide new skills and connect cultural professionals, primarily those who work in the music festival and classical music sector, to encourage composers to write new pieces inspired by the local heritage of partner countries, as well as to facilitate networking and collaboration between young musicians, composers, and classical music organizations in the Western Balkans.

For more info about the project, visit synergyproject.info.