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In June 2000, the "Balkan
Philharmonic Orchestra" played its first Concert in Skopje. The musicians
come from different areas of the Balkans, several of which are enemies:
Macedonian, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece and
Turkey. The documentary accompanies some of them during the preparations
for the concert. Violinists from Sarajevo, Thessaloniki and Izmir, a cellist
from Bucharest and a choir master from Sofia are visited in their hometowns.
They talk about their lives, music and the problems in their countries
shattered by war, poverty or political changes. But no matter how different
their views might be: They all believe in the power of music being able
to overcome boundaries. A flutist from Sarajevo says that for him music
serves as a "weapon" against the horrors of war and the depressing
circumstances in his native country, and the Bulgarian conductor believes
that art can "unify" people. The monologues are interspersed
with the rehearsals - up to the big evening when the orchestra plays Beethoven's
Ninth Symphony - according to the choir master the "hymn of the nations".
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