The Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra will perform at the 2025 NATO Parliamentary Assembly Spring Session in Dayton.
"They're coming specifically for NATO and for the Concert for Peace and for our nation's commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Accords," U.S. Rep. Mike Turner announced on Monday.
For their performance at the Air Force Museum, the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra will play alongside the Sarajevo Philharmonic for the NATO parliamentarians and invited guests.
"The NATO concert itself will be conducted by our music director, Neal Gittleman, and we are also really honored that Marin Alsop, one of the greatest living conductors, will be conducting the combined orchestras here at the beautiful [Benjamin and Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center]," said Patrick Nugent, president and CEO of the Dayton Philharmonic.
The group will also be performing for the public at the Schuster Center and the Victoria Theatre on May 29.
"We are really honored that we would be able to be part of that Concert for Peace of course as well as the concert at the NATO International Assembly," said Vedran Tuce, director of the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra. "But I would also like to to mention that there will be like a hundred of us on the stage that night speaking same language. That will be a music."
These will be the only US performances that the orchestra will have on this tour. The Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra will travel from Bosnia to perform here in Dayton.
"The world renowned conductor, Marin Alsop, joins forces with the Sarajevo Philharmonic from our sister city, marking their only US performance here in May," said Gabriel van Aalst, the president and CEO of Dayton Live. "And in collaboration with the Dayton Philharmonic, they will put on an exceptional evening that unites cultures and celebrates the power of peace."
Turner helped organize the Concert of Peace by making a direct request to the director of the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra nearly three years ago.
“I went and personally made the plea that he consider bringing the Sarajevo symphony here to participate as entertainment for the Native Parliamentary Assembly event, but also then to stay to have a community event," he said.
Turner said Dayton will host think tanks, governmental entities and other countries that were impacted by the Balkan war as part of a retrospective and prospective on the Dayton Peace Accords.
“This is going to be a significant economic impact in that a thousand people from primarily Europe, NATO countries, but also really around the world of affiliated nations that work with NATO and European nations are going to be coming here as part of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.”
Wright State University is hosting the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra during its visit to the Miami Valley.
Wright State University President Sue Edwards said students in the music program at the university are excited to have the group rehearse on their campus.
"We really look forward to Wright State taking part and supporting the Sarajevo Orchestra so that they really get the most out of their visit to Dayton and hopefully they will make a return visit at a later date," she said.