Two events in the name of culture, excellence and art: on 12 July, a press conference was held at the Italian Embassy in Sarajevo to present two important cultural events to be held at the end of July in Italy, sponsored and organised by the Italian Embassy. The first is the establishment of the Peace Orchestra of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the second is the exhibition at the Chamber of Deputies of a selection of artworks from the Collection of the Ars Aevi Contemporary Art Museum of Sarajevo. The press conference was held by Italian Ambassador Nicola Minasi, the Minister of Culture and Sport of the Canton of Sarajevo, Mirvad Kurić, several representatives of the Peace Orchestra, of Ars Aevi and of Banca Unicredit, which gave a financial contribution to the Ars Aevi project. Ambassador Minasi illustrated the link between the two initiatives and the social and cultural objectives of the Trieste Summit which falls within the framework of the Berlin Process for the European integration of the Western Balkans. It was no coincidence that the presentation was held on the same day as the Summit. The Peace Orchestra was established at the proposal of the Music Riva Festival in Riva del Garda (Trento) and upon the initiative of the Festival director, Mietta Sighele. As every year, the Festival aimed at inviting a young orchestra to perform with an established conductor. In agreement with the Embassy, it was decided to form an orchestra specifically for the occasion by putting together musicians from the whole of Bosnia-Herzegovina and all its communities, giving rise to a new formation: the Peace Orchestra of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The orchestra will be in Italy from 20 to 30 July and will perform three concerts. The Embassy in Sarajevo wrote in a note: “The initiative is thus the concrete realisation of the commitment to develop projects capable of involving and uniting the youth of the Western Balkans, which is the principal aim of the Youth Forum organised on the sidelines of the Trieste Summit.”
Instead, the display of some of the artworks of the Ars Aevi collection testifies to Italy’s commitment to disseminate the excellence of Bosnian art and culture on the Italian territory, an initiative of Italy’s rotating Presidency of the Berlin Process for the European integration of the Western Balkans for 2017. The promoter of the initiative is the Italian Parliament which, following the institutional visit of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chamber of Deputies last May, highlighted the perfect nature of the Ars Aevi collection as symbol of Sarajevo’s history and as the metaphor of the reconstruction of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Thus, at the invitation of the President of the Chamber of Deputies’ Foreign Affairs Committee, Fabrizio Cicchitto, and of the President of the Culture Committee, Flavia Piccoli Nardelli, the exhibition “Nine works from nine collections of the Ars Aevi Museum – Sarajevo” will open on Tuesday, 18 July at 6 p.m. at the Monumental Complex on Vicolo Valdina in Rome (Piazza Campo Marzio, 42).
