“The program of the concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra at the Sarajevo City Hall has been carefully selected and represents the path through history and human soul, but also has a strong political message,” the president of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Clemens Hellsberg said today in Sarajevo.
The Vienna Philharmonic with 105 members performed repertoire with works by famous Austrian, German and French composers – Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, Alban Berg, Johannes Brahms and Maurice Ravel.
“We want to realize a connection of friendship, love and a common language – music. We want to give a vision of a common future of peace,” he said.
Conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic, Maestro Franz Welser-Möst emphasized that this concert reminded us of how the war between the two nations is not an option, and the intention is to show what music in today’s time can do.
He added that the audience, after the national anthem of Bosnia and Herzegovina was brought back in history where it all began,” the Austro-Hungarian Empire, while Schubert’s unfinished symphony reminded us of the depth of human suffering.
“The program concluded with the anthem of Europe to remind that Europe is not only about the economy, but that especially after the First World War it has become the idea of unity. We would like to say that the war must never happen again on European soil, the war is never an option, and that there are better things in human life,” he said.
The Mayor of Sarajevo, Ivo Komšić, said that he believe that the citizens of Sarajevo received the greatest gift from the Vienna Philharmonic – the concert in the City Hall. He points out that the concert has a symbolic and actual significance, because the eyes of the world will be fixed on Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“The Vienna Philharmonic symbolically took us through the 100th anniversary of the First World War, and it left us behind all the suffering and announced a new era of peace and solidarity among the people and the music is the best medium for this,” he added.
Natalia Dianiskova from the European Union Delegation to BiH underlines that this event is marked by the fact that millions of people died in the First World War, which is why it was intent to make this 2014 a year of commemoration.
She stated that the citizens of the EU secured two million Euros for this event.
(Souce: Fena/photo slobodnaevropa.org)
