The Power of Children's Musical Creativity: The Inaugural Festival of SONEMUS New Generation Takes Place
The Association of New Music SONEMUS, a leading organization in the promotion of contemporary artistic music in Bosnia and Herzegovina, has, for over two decades, consistently achieved its fundamental goals of performance, promotion, and education in this field. In alignment with one of the core aspects of SONEMUS's mission—developing the creativity of young musicians and encouraging their profiling in contemporary artistic music—a festival titled SONEMUS New Generation has been launched.
The two-day program of the newly established festival, held on 14 and 15 December 2024, at the Music Academy of the University of Sarajevo, gathered students from the Primary Music and Ballet School “Novo Sarajevo” and the Secondary Music School Sarajevo. They participated in an interactive multidisciplinary workshop realized through four thematic segments under the mentorship of faculty from the Music Academy of the University of Sarajevo, as well as members of the SONEMUS ensemble and the Impro Ensemble MAS: Extended Playing Techniques and Improvised Instrumentation (led by violinists Mr. Sara Barbara Bilela and Mr. Alex Mateescu, flutist and composer Dr. Hanan Hadžajlić, saxophonists Mr. Rijad Šarić and Mr. Zoja Vuković, and pianist Mr. Mirza Gološ); Free Improvisation (led by composer Dr. Hanan Hadžajlić); Introduction to Composition: From Musical Idea to Work (led by composer Prof. Mr. Ališer Sijarić); and The World of Electronic Music (led by musicologist Mr. Rijad Kaniža).
After exploring the various components of composing and performing contemporary improvised music in an accessible and comprehensive manner, workshop participants Selver Durić (clarinet), Jan Zeherović (saxophone), Umihana Uma Halilović (violin), Tara Zovko (violin), Erliha Mekić (violin), Lana Avdović (double bass), Timur Sokolović (accordion), Omar Hukić (piano), and Sofian Sijarić (piano), under the mentorship of Dr. Hanan Hadžajlić, conceived the concept for the final concert program, where they performed on December 15 at the Music Academy UNSA as the SONEMUS New Generation ensemble alongside members of the SONEMUS ensemble and the Impro Ensemble MAS.
In the first part of the concert, compositions based on graphic notation developed during the “Introduction to Composition: From Musical Idea to Work” workshop were presented. Violinist Alex Mateescu, a member of the Impro Ensemble MAS, performed a graphic composition for violin created by ten-year-old Tara Zovko, followed by the SONEMUS New Generation ensemble performing a composition they had co-created.
Prof. Mr. Ališer Sijarić, composer, professor, and Dean of the Music Academy UNSA, as well as founder and artistic director of the Association of New Music SONEMUS, addressed the audience. He emphasized the significance of musical improvisation in the educational process for children from an early age and the essential role of free creativity in the development of overall cognitive abilities.
The concert featured concepts developed during the “The World of Electronic Music” workshop, including a piece entitled “VCOS” presented by Erliha Mekić and Jan Zeherović, followed by the presentation of the concept “Granular Microphonics,” a short electroacoustic piece created in real-time. After Sofian Sijarić and Omar Hukić played a brief musical pattern on the piano, which was recorded by Tara Zovko to serve as a sample for the piece, the initial compositional material was processed by Timur Sokolović (delay processor) and Selver Durić (granulator) on various processors.
The program concluded with the Impro concept in G (I and II movements) for large ensemble, devised through the “Free Improvisation” workshop. The first movement of the composition was performed by the SONEMUS New Generation ensemble, comprising Selver Durić (clarinet), Jan Zeherović (saxophone), Umihana Uma Halilović (violin), Tara Zovko (violin), Erliha Mekić (violin), Lana Avdović (double bass), Timur Sokolović (accordion), and Omar Hukić (piano), under the direction of Sofian Sijarić, to which members of the SONEMUS ensemble and Impro Ensemble MAS joined during the second movement: Hanan Hadžajlić (bass flute), Rijad Šarić (saxophone), Zoja Vuković (saxophone), Sara Barbara Bilela (violin), Alex Mateescu (violin), Mirza Gološ (piano), and Rijad Kaniža (electronics).
At the end of the concert, saxophonist Zoja Vuković presented certificates of participation to the festival participants of SONEMUS New Generation.
The program concept for the SONEMUS New Generation festival was designed by the festival's artistic director Dr. Hanan Hadžajlić and the artistic director and founder of the SONEMUS Association, Prof. Mr. Ališer Sijarić, with the activities coordinated by musicologist and executive director of the SONEMUS New Generation festival, Ms. Aida Adžović.
The project was realized by the Association of New Music SONEMUS in collaboration with the Music Academy of the University of Sarajevo, supported by the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sport.
Photos: Vanja Čerimagić
