New friendships

The fourth edition of the Zadar Organ Festival is proud for encouraging new international cooperation between Croatia and Greece. The collaboration occurred by connecting the artists of the Zadar Organ Festival with the artists of the Greek International Organ ANO Festival. Starting in 2017, it has been held on Syros, one of the islets of the magical Cyclades archipelago in the middle of the Aegean See. The island of Syros – once important commercial and manufacturing center – still preserves an old cathedral of St. George, a haven for the Greek Catholics of the Ano Syros medieval settlement and for one of the few organs in the predominantly Orthodox country. The cooperation between the Zadar Organ Festival and the ANO festival is framed by the project titled SONIC (Sustainable Organ Networking and Innovative Cooperation), supported by the EU program Erasmus+. The project aims to cultivate the organ culture, emphasizing local cultural heritage and the development of innovative artistic material for future generations, having in mind primarily younger audience. It was designed to promote the active involvement of artists up to the age of 30 by raising awareness about the organ and its multidimensional value. In order to achieve a sustainable social impact in the modern world of new challenges, the project envisioned the use of various digital tools so that younger artists have the opportunity to express their creativity beyond geographical and cultural boundaries.

As part of the SONIC project, a concert by the Greek organist Ourania Gassiou is held in the church of St. Chrysogonus in Zadar (10/09/2022), her masterclass for organists at the Blagoje Bersa Music School (9/09/2022) and in the concert hall of that Zadar Music School the lecture "Eight Greek Composers" by the renowned Greek radio-television presenter, writer and music critic Nikos Kanellopoulos (9/9/2022).