Meer dan 2.000 mensen vieren het Europese Festival van Interculturele Dialoog in Brussel (en) - Montesquieu Instituut

The European Commission, in cooperation with the Flagey Arts Centre in Brussels, celebrated on 12 and 13 September 2008 the European Festival of Intercultural Dialogue. Jan Figel, European Commissioner for Education, Culture and Youth, had invited Ambassadors of the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue to celebrate cultural diversity with a packed two-day programme of concerts, workshops, film screenings and debates.

More than 2,000 visitors enjoyed the programme, which brought together 7 of the European Ambassadors for Intercultural Dialogue in joint creative events: film and TV director Agnieszka Holland; conductor Jack Martin Händler; film director Radu Mihaileanu; journalist, author, historian and political activist Adam Michnik; viola da gamba star and conductor Jordi Savall; pianist Fazil Say and pop singer Marija Å erifovic.

The festivities began on Friday 12 September with a moving tribute from Jack Martin Händler to the conductor Bruno Walter during a concert by the Bruno Walter Symphony Orchestra together with by virtuoso Turkish pianist Fazil Say, whose performance was greeted with a standing ovation.

On Saturday 13 September, the viola da gamba star, Jordi Savall and his group of musicians from across the world enchanted a full concert hall with an extraordinary performance of eastern and western music, entitled “Orient – Occident”.

Several films were part of the programme; Copying Beethoven introduced by its director Agnieszka Holland, Tous les matins du monde by Alain Corneau introduced by Jordi Savall as well as Va, vis et deviens (Live and Become) introduced and debated with the audience by its director Radu Mihaileanu.

Workshops brought Ambassadors together with Brussels teenagers to film and produce short videos and with children to learn songs in new languages. Jack Martin Händler, together with a young violinist pupil of the famous Chapelle Reine Elisabeth, treated the public to an open rehearsal. And all Ambassadors shared their experience and vision of intercultural dialogue in a round table debate moderated by Dutch journalist and author Michaël Zeeman. The grand finale of the Festival was provided by Hungarian Roma band Parno Graszt.

Background:

The European Year of Intercultural Dialogue was established by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers with the goal of highlighting the importance of dialogue between cultures and Europe’s cultural diversity. With this in mind, the Commission is supporting a number of flagship projects on a European scale that help foster dialogue between cultures in a unique and exemplary way. In Member States, the Commission is also cooperating with a large number of civil society organisations that have decided to tie their projects in with the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue.

To find out more on the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue, you can visit:

http://www.dialogue2008.eu