Balkanicus 2016 will feature a program of American and World premieres from Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, and Turkey. Two chamber music pieces by the pillar of the Bulgarian avant garde Vassil Kazandjiev-one a World premiere-are included. The other World premiere is a work by the Turkish composer David Esra Okonsar. For the first time at Balkanicus music by Croatian Antun Tomislav Šaban, Serbian Dušan Bogdanović and from Bosnia and Herzegovina-Vojislav Ivanović and Svjetlana Bukvich.The 2016 concert Features leading musicians from the Twin Cities area who collaborated many times on Balkanicus concerts-faculty, guest performers and graduate students: percussionist Fernando Meza,tenor John De Haan, cellist Nickolai Kolarov, pianist Jill Dawe, and harpist Min Kim, Yordan Dimitrov is the reader.
Balkanicus chamber concert series was created in 2003 by Bulgarian cellist Nickolai Kolarov to showcase music from the Balkans that is still unknown to the local public. The concerts present American and World premieres of works by composers of different generations and styles. Several composers have written and dedicated pieces for Balkanicus. Music inspired by folk, with Western influences, and the most recent developments of the 21st century cross paths on our stage-and all of these pieces convey 'Spiritus Balkanicus!'