EAST SARAJEVO READY FOR ANOTHER "ACCORDION ART PLUS"

The Music Academy of the University of East Sarajevo and the Association for the Nurturing of Academic Music "New Sound" are organizing the International Accordion Festival "Accordion Art Plus" from May 28th to 31st.

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A press conference to mark the opening of the Festival will be held on May 27th at 12:00 PM in the hall of the Music Academy of the University of East Sarajevo.

The conference will feature speeches from the Dean of the Music Academy, Maja Žuža; the Vice Dean for Artistic and Scientific Research, Marko Stojanović; the Head of the Accordion Department and member of the Music Committee of the World Confederation of Accordionists, Danijela Gazdić; and Festival guest, Grzegorz Stopa from Austria.

The Festival is one of the leading classical music festivals in the region, bringing together the most eminent artists, accordionists, pianists, performers, and guests from around the world in East Sarajevo for the past thirteen years, according to the official page of the University of East Sarajevo.

This year's festival competition will be held in five competitive disciplines, and the artistic program will feature four concerts.

On Tuesday, May 28th, the festival's opening ceremony will include a performance by the Chamber Choir of the Department of Church Music and Singing, conducted by Rade Radović, and the Accordion Orchestra of the Music Academy, conducted by Dražan Kosorić, at the National Theatre of East Sarajevo.

On Wednesday, May 29th, Oliver Kern, piano, from Germany will perform, followed by Giorgio Dellarole, accordion, from Italy on May 30th. On Friday, May 31st, the competition laureates' concert is scheduled.

In the educational segment of the festival, there will be two masterclasses and one expert lecture.

Grzegorz Stopa from Austria will conduct the accordion masterclass, and Oliver Kern from Germany will conduct the piano masterclass. Giorgio Dellarole from Italy will give an expert lecture on the topic "The Sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti: A Multifaceted World Ready to Be Rediscovered."

The jury members for this year's festival come from ten countries: Germany, Austria, Italy, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Montenegro, Croatia, Serbia, and Montenegro.

Thanks to the reputation that the Music Academy holds in global artistic circles, they had the honor of organizing the 58th World Accordion Trophy in 2008, which was rated by the World Accordion Association as the best-organized event in the history of this competition.

"Additionally, from September 23rd to 28th, 2025, we will host the 78th World Accordion Cup, which will be organized by the Music Academy and the World Accordion Association in East Sarajevo," the statement said.