The Ex Yugoslavia Project

“Music is a woman”
Contemporary Balkan chamber music written by women composers.

The Ex Jugosławia project was created in 2016 on the initiative of the Chamber Music Institute. J. Haydn at the Universitat für Musik und Kunst darstellende in Vienna. The project, whose author and main coordinator is Vida Vujić, MA (lecturer at the above-mentioned University, cellist), was aimed at discovering to a wider audience the contemporary chamber works of women composers from the countries of the former Yugoslavia (Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia).

During the concerts, Antarja Quartet had the pleasure of performing works by the most recognized composers in southern Europe: Jana Andreevska, Isidora Žebeljan, Sanda Majurec, Urška Pompe, Laura Čuperjani, Valentina Velkovska-Trajanovska and Ivana Stefanović. Their compositions open up a completely new world to the listener, showing the multicolor and extraordinary temperament of Balkan culture. In several works you can still hear echoes of the not-so-distant war in Yugoslavia, reminding us of the dramas related to it. On the other hand, the authors do not give up the traditional influences of their native culture. The power of expression is so intense that it forces the listener to concentrate deeply and follow the narrative of the concert. Each of the presented pieces impresses with its originality and imagination . The power of expression is so great that it forces the listener to concentrate deeply and encourages reflection.

Symposia and concerts took place in Vienna, Ljubljana, Skopje, Belgrade and Copenhagen, where each presentation of this outstanding music was received by the audience with enthusiastic ovations. In all these European capitals, the project was received with incredible interest.

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