Choir tours Bosnia and Herzegovina

Magdalene College Choir toured Bosnia and Herzegovina from 30 June to 5 July and held enthusiastically received concerts in Mostar and Sarajevo.

The Choir was delighted to be able to visit and perform in a beautiful country rarely visited by Cambridge College choirs. The concerts featured music from across the Choir’s liturgical repertoire, from early music up to the present day, including the Choir’s recent commission from British composer Becky McGlade, ‘When Mary thro’ the garden went’.

Alongside the concerts, members of the Choir, joined by the Precentor and Dean of Chapel, were able to explore the historic centres of Mostar and Sarajevo, and undertake excursions further afield. The group was also hosted by the British Ambassador to the country, Julian Reilly, at his Residence in Sarajevo, at a reception which included figures from the local musical establishment.

The Choir expresses thanks to the College, and individuals who kindly supported the tour, as well as to Amela Plosko and Lidija Vladić-Mandarić from the University of Mostar who did so much to make the trip a success.

James Potter, Precentor and Director of Music at Magdalene, writes:

There are few experiences which compare to that of visiting a country for the first time for the purposes of making music and facilitating cultural exchange. For the Choir, it is an unparalleled opportunity to experience a different culture, especially one with such a rich, complex, and important history.

The experience of giving concerts in this context is particularly special, wherein the group acts as ambassadors not only of the College, projecting its values of excellence and community, but of the Anglican choral tradition more widely, in a country where our repertoire is heard only rarely. Those in attendance at our concerts spoke of being moved by the music, especially that which expressed a hope for lasting unity and peace, a hope that is all the more resonant in a country so recently scarred by war.