Dr. Herbert Scheibenreif
The first festival "Dani Harmonike" took place in Ugljevik in 2009, organized by the elementary music school "Kornelije Stanković". In addition to concerts, seminars and specialist lectures, competitions for harmonica soloists, chamber ensembles and orchestras were held, evaluated by an international expert jury made up of renowned and proven music teachers and performers from several countries.
In recent years the festival has hosted top artists such as Vladimir Murza, Alexander Sklyarov, Yuri Shishkin, Pavel Fenjuk, Alexander Poeluev, Sergey Osokin, Eduard Akhanov, Irina Serotyuk, Juan Ignasia Rueda, Vladimir Olejnik, Winfried Hackl, Yevgeni Kobyakov, Ljubiša Pavković, Narodnog, the RTS orchestra, the Balkan Strings trio and many other artists from home and abroad. Thanks to the excellent organization, high evaluation criteria and great guests, according to many prominent music critics, the festival soon gained great reputation, like other recognized European and world festivals with a long tradition. The special significance of the festival also lies in the fact that it is the first accordion festival to be organized in Serbia and Bosnia & Herzegovina, making it one of the rare festivals in two different countries.
The "Dani Harmonike" festival was intended to promote and validate cultural and musical creativity in this region. Over the past nine years, however, it has deservedly gained much greater prominence, becoming a heritage event that celebrated its 15th anniversary this year. It has contributed to the affirmation and promotion of the accordion, both in the region and in Europe and the world. The most famous names in the accordion world were successfully welcomed, but also motivated and showcased many young talents. Many countries such as Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina have been represented at previous "Accordion Days".
This year around 150 young accordionists from 20 countries met to determine their best in 9 solo, 5 entertainment and 3 chamber music categories. Many participants surprised the international jury with their performances, which were already very mature at a young age. Special mention should be made of Agafya Glotova - Davydova (Israel), Peter Sokol (Slovakia), Luca Bello (Italy) and Petar Dinčić (Serbia). Hazim Mehmedić (BIH) achieved the highest number of points of all participants of the festival and thus won the challenge cup.
Alexej Murza (Ukraine), Artjom Nizhnik (Israel), Radu Ratoi (Moldova) and Yuri Shishkin (Russia) were invited as guest soloists for the evening concerts who greatly impressed the audience with their outstanding interpretation of works from different epochs.
Once again, Slavisa Perić, as organizer, made the 15th edition of the "Dani Harmonike" possible. In September he will organize the 76th Coupe Mondiale of the "Confédération Internationale des Accordéonistes", in December the next "Accordion Festival" will follow in Graz (Austria). Many thanks for this exceptional achievement of organizing three competitions in one year!
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