Spotlight on the Western Balkans
This summer, from 4 to 6 July, Wonderfeel Festival highlights the extraordinary musical vibrancy and creativity of the former Yugoslav republics – Croatia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Slovenia – as well as Albania. These countries, with their deeply intertwined histories and cultural exchanges, form a region where music has always played a vital role in expressing identity, resilience, and connection. Following the 2023 focus on Turkey, Wonderfeel continues its exploration of musical crossroads between East and West in Europe.
Challenging stereotypes
By inviting artits and ensembles from the Western Balkans, Wonderfeel wants to break through the often one-dimensional image many people have of the region. Too often, the Balkans are reduced to stories of war and division – stories that overshadow a rich, diverse cultural life and a dynamic present. Each festival day, Festival Thinker Haris Pašović sits down with guests to dive into the region’s history: where these stereotypes come from, how conflict shaped the area, and what life in the Balkans looks like today. Together, they will also look ahead – to a future where music finds its way in the age of AI, and where human connection both embraces and resists the technology we ourselves have created.
These conversations lead to bigger questions: How close is a region often perceived as ‘far away’? Why is our knowledge of the Balkans so limited? And what does it mean to belong – can you feel connected to more than one place at once? Dutch-Serbian violinist Julija Hartig and writer Chris Keulemans will join Pašović to explore how heritage, memory, and identity relate to longing and belonging. Hartig brings this theme into her music as well, with her new work Black Rainbow (2025), a personal piece for violin, voice, and electronics. Through it, she reflects on the longing for belonging and the connection to ancestral roots.
Home Game
The same questions – What is home? How can we be so divided and still so connected? – are central to Home Game (2024), a new film by director Lidija Zelović. As a prelude to Wonderfeel’s focus, we host a screening of Home Game on 17 April at Filmtheater Hilversum. The film portrays Zelović’s displaced family, who fled their war-torn home in Sarajevo in 1993 and settled in the Netherlands. In doing so, Zelović also sheds light on unsettling political and social developments in the Netherlands today – patterns she recognizes from her shattered homeland of Yugoslavia. Home Game is moving, sometimes confrontational, often humorous, and always honest – holding up a mirror to today’s political climate in the Netherlands and beyond. After the screening, Lidija Zelović joins Wonderfeel’s director Tamar Brüggemann for a conversation with the audience.
The Balkan line-up
From ancient traditions to bold contemporary experiments, the Wonderfeel Balkan line spans the full spectrum of musical expression. Wonderfeel 2025 opens on 4 July with Dora Pejačević’s Fantasia Concertante, a powerful and expressive orchestral work by this pioneering Croatian composer. The Wonderfeel Festival Orchestra, joined by Croatian pianist Martina Filjak, sets the tone for the festival’s focus on the region’s rich musical heritage.
The Balkans’ musical tradition blends Eastern and Western influences, with complex rhythms, polyphonic singing, and instruments like the accordion, kaval and gusle. Wonderfeel welcomes legendary singer Amira Medunjanin, who brings the soul of Bosnia to life through sevdah – often called the ‘Balkan fado’. We also feature Bilbili, known for their intriguing Albanian iso-polyphony. Serbian violist and singer-songwriter Jelena Popržan mixes traditional Balkan music with French and German chansons, while ensemble Makkedonissimo reimagines Macedonian folk music, breathing new life into classical traditions.
Throughout the festival, the programme highlights ensembles that blend classical and contemporary works, such as Kosovo’s ReVocal Ensemble, the Serbian Meraki String Quartet, and acclaimed Kosovar guitarist Petrit Çeku, who will also give a public masterclass. The Croatian Papandopulo Saxophone Quartet presents a programme celebrating female composers from the Balkans, including works by our guest curator Margareta Ferek-Petrić and a piece from Pejačević’s String Quartet in C Major. Violinist Julija Hartig, mezzo-soprano Barbara Kozelj, and guitarist Petrit Çeku join forces in a programme exploring how folk music from across Europe shaped the classical repertoire, featuring works by Croatian composer Ivan Padovec.
Wonderfeel also showcases artists pushing the boundaries of (classical) music. Slovenian percussionist and producer Lola Mlačnik merges classical percussion with electronic and experimental music. Accordion virtuoso Mario Batkovic also takes the stage. Though his career took shape in Switzerland, his playing unmistakable carries his Balkan roots. With no effects or loops, just the pure sound of his instrument, Batkovic bridges traditional and contemporary worlds.
Feminism
What does it mean to be a female musician in regions where music and gender roles are both steeped in tradition? Together with Festival Thinker Haris Pašović, Wonderfeel examines the role of women in the music scenes of the Balkans and the Netherlands. Amira Medunjanin, soprano Katharine Dain, and violinist Dušica Kordić share their experiences, the obstacles they faced, and how they claim space for themselves and others. Kordić will also introduce the gusle, a traditional instrument historically played by men. What does it mean for a woman to take up this instrument and carry its stories forward?
A grand Balkan finale
Wonderfeel 2025 closes on the evening of Sunday 6 July with a special performance by ensemble Pynarello, joined by Amira Medunjanin, Dušica Kordić, Vasile Nedea, and Mozes Rosenberg. Together, they celebrate the deep influence of Roma culture on Balkan music – tracing Roma migration from India through the Middle East to Europe and the Balkans, and its influence on classical composers such as Telemann. This finale embodies Wonderfeel’s belief in music as a bridge between cultures, traditions, and generations – a closing celebration that brings the festival’s focus full circle.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to our guest curators – Donika Rudi, director of the ReMusica Festival, Margareta Ferek-Petrić, composer and former artistic director of Music Biennale Zagreb, and Haris Pašović, theatre director and director of Sarajevo Fest Arts & Politics – for their invaluable guidance in shaping this focus. Thanks also to the European Festivals Association, whose network has brought us together over the past eight years, allowing connections and friendships to grow into the foundation for this collaboration. Finally, we thank the Embassy of Kosovo and the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia for their generous support.
EXPLAINER
The Western Balkans – so what exactly are we talking about?