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Dženana Huseinagić, PhD - soprano

Corresponding member of the International Academy of Science and Arts (MIANU IRSA) Belgrade, in 2016 she was awarded the title "Woman of the Year" by the media of the city of Tuzla. She was chairperson of the jury of the Choir Festival, Bijeljina (Bosnia and Herzegovina) (2021, 2022). Graduate of music schools (primary, secondary and academy) in Tuzla, Sarajevo and Belgrade. She obtained her PhD in media science (2020) Employed at the Music Academy in Bijeljina (Bosnia and Herzegovina) as a professor of vocal technique and at the Primary Music School in Tuzla in the solo singing class.

She participates in numerous music competitions and gives concerts in Bosnia and Herzegovina and countries of the Balkan Peninsula region. She participates in the realisation of music production in films, conducts music workshops, and has published dozens of texts on the music of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Particularly noteworthy are her efforts to preserve the musical heritage of the Bosnian Muslims, or Boszniaks, who combine in their traditional love songs, the so-called sevdalinkas, the tradition of eastern music and oriental sentimentality with the heritage of the Slavic music of the Balkan peoples.

Of particular significance were her performances and concerts at the London Parliament, the UK Ministry of Foreign Affairs auditorium, as well as concerts in Birmingham, Trondheim (Norway), Stockholm (Sweden) and Zagreb, Belgrade, Vienna and in other venues.

Dženana Šehanović Sarajlić - pianist and composer

In 2005, the less than 14-year-old Dženana became the youngest student of the Zagreb Music Academy in its history. Five years later, she obtained a diploma in piano class. She is currently preparing her doctoral thesis at the Academy of Music in Sarajevo. She has given concerts in Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Austria, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Norway, Turkey, Hungary, Pakistan, Qatar, Sweden and the UK. She performs classical repertoire as well as her own compositions both in solo concerts and together with renowned orchestras (Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra, Zagreb Academy Orchestra, together with the Amoroso chamber orchestra (Serbia) and the Zagreb Soloists Orchestra. Dženana Šehanović Sarajlić is employed at music schools in Sarajevo and Tuzla. She has received numerous awards:

- Award of the Rector of the University of Zagreb;

- First Prize in the Pianello Val Tidone International Competition, Italy;

- First Prize in Federal Competitions in Mostar and Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina;

- Special Prize at the Federal Competition in Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina;

- She was declared Tuzla's Top Teenager in Arts and Culture in 2003;

- First Prize at the Frederic Chopin Music Festival in Tuzla;

- Distinction for the best interpretation at the Frederic Chopin Music Festival in Tuzla;

- First Prize in the International Competition "Chopinov Zlatni Prsten"/"Golden Ring of Chopin", Slovenia, Winner of the competition;

- Special prize for the best performance of a given composition at the International Competition "Chopinov Zlatni Prsten"/"Golden Ring of Chopin", Slovenia;

- Special prize for the best performance of a Chopin etude at the International Competition "Chopinov Zlatni Prsten"/"Golden Ring of Chopin", Slovenia;

- First Prize in the "Zlatko Grgošević" International Competition, Zagreb, Croatia;

- Special Prize of the European Association of Piano Teachers EPTA Zagreb in the "Zlatko Grgošević" International Competition, Croatia;

- Special jury prize for exceptional piano talent at the "Zlatko Grgošević" International Competition, Croatia;

- Special Euro Unit award for the best piano student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Osijek, 2008, Croatia;

- Yamaha corporation special award for a promising young pianist, Croatia;

- Second Prize in the International Competition "Citta di Gorizia", Italy, (first prize was not awarded).

- Since 2020, Dženana Huseinagić has been touring together with pianist Dženana Šehanović Sarajlić, with whom they have given numerous concerts and also jointly released an album in 2021 entitled "Sevdah and the classics", and in 2023 another album entitled "Zephyr". Dženana Šehanović Sarajlić's joint concerts with Dženana Huseinagić, especially the promotion of sevdalinkas, the traditional love songs of Bosnian Muslims are not only an expression of concern for the common musical heritage of Bosnian and Balkan Christians and Muslims, but is also a bridge between these traditions.

- The invitation of the duo in question, young and outstanding artists, also has the great merit of a conciliatory and communal perception of Europe's cultural tradition, which is formed not only by the two lungs of Europe (a metaphor used after John Paul II), but also by the two traditions - Christian and Muslim. Indeed, Bosnian Muslims, known as Boszniaks, are the most western autonomous Muslims and the most eastern Muslim Europeans, possessing a South Slavic ethnic provenance and speaking a Slavic language, but distinguished from other South Slavic peoples by their religion and historical experience. The music, especially the love songs, the so-called 'sevdalinkas', which the artists perform, in their own words, in a certain 'classical spirit', are a great example to learn about Europe's heritage in its diversity.