A VISIT TO BANJA LUKA (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

In May 13-15 2005, The France Prešeren Academy Choir Kranj visited the Banja Luka Choral Gatherings held from May 7-24 2005. The second in order Choral Gatherings is a festival, which is surely going to become traditional due to widely recognized hospitability and the perfect organization. The organization of the festival is in custody of the Serbian Singing Society »Jedinstvo« and under the patronage of the parish of Banja Luka, the City of Banja Luka, The Ministry of Sports, the Cultural Centre »Banski dvor« and the Museum of Contemporary Arts of The Republic of Serbia.
15 musical groups were attending the festival: 13 choirs, a male octet and an orchestra. There were eight choirs from Banja Luka, while the others were from Belgrade, (Serbia and Montenegro), Prijedor, (The Republic of Serbia),  Šabac (Serbia and Montenegro), Greece and Slovenia.
There were 29 singers in Kranj's choir plus the conductor Primož Kerštanj and Mija Mravlja, the president of The Association of Cultural Organizations Kranj.
The first appearance of the choir from Kranj was in a town promenade. On the same evening the choir held a concert at The Museum of Contemporary Arts, where the first part was performend by the Mixed choir from the Banja Luka University with the conductor Nemanja Savić. 
On the next day, May 14th 2005, we had another concert on the same stage, this time we shared it with a Greek mixed choir. We regretted that we had not had the opportunity to perform in one of the most acoustic halls in the Cultural Centre »Banski Dvor«. That evening the Prom night was held there.
The programme of the France Prešeren choir consisted of traditional Slovene songs from different parts of Slovenia in the first part, while the second part consisted of Spirituals, mostly Moses Hogan's. Mija Aleš, Aleš Žepič and the conductor Primož Kerštanj performed the solo parts.
All our performances were well visited, praised and well covered by the media.
Our hosts kept the open door and arranged the meeting with their choir in their premises. Members of the choir and the conductor Nemanja Savić were spending days with us, showing us around and making sure we were enjoying ourselves. They even organized a trip along the picturesque river Vrboska valley to a town called Jajce.
Our performances were noticeable and we have already received the invitation to Choral Gatherings 2006.