Sarajevo Concert: EUROVISION and Vienna Philharmonic unite Europe in WWI commemoration

--

European leaders will come together in Sarajevo on 28 June to commemorate the outbreak of World War I in a symbolic concert performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (VPO) and broadcast to audiences by public service media.

The EUROVISION-led coproduction is set to take place two days after EU heads of state and government attend a special commemoration ceremony in Ypres, Belgium, at the start of the June European Summit.

Austro-Hungarian heir Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated on Sunday 28 June 1914 outside Sarajevo's national library the setting for the concert. The incident set off a chain of events that embroiled the worlds major powers in a war of an unprecedented scale leading to years of turmoil across Europe and beyond.

A century on, the concert casts a spotlight on the incredible transformation Europe has undergone from a theatre of war to a continent, characterised by peace and reconciliation.

The concert conducted by Franz Welser-M st will feature music by composers from Austria, Germany and France: Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, Alban Berg, Johannes Brahms, Maurice Ravel and Josef Strauss.

We have created a musical programme with strong connections to the historical events of 1914 1918, to invite the audience remember this era-defining conflict, said Clemens Hellsberg, President of the VPO.

The EUROVISION-led production is the centrepiece to a series of themed projects offered by PSM to mark the events of 1914 1918 and their continued relevance to contemporary European society.

EBU Members BHRT (Bosnia & Herzegovina), France T l visions and ZDF (Germany) will coproduce live TV and radio coverage of the event, which will also be relayed to a large public audience on big screens outside the venue.

This flagship project is at the heart of our public service mission a moment for Europeans to pause and reflect on the ongoing relevance of the First World War, said EBU Director General Ingrid Deltenre. It is a poignant link between the past and more recent turmoil in Europe.

Share this page on

--

LINK:	http://www3.ebu.ch/sites/ebu/contents/news/2014/06/sarajevo-concert-eu...
	See more stories from ebu

Most recent headlines