Overview

On the evening of Tuesday, 5 May, the Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels, better known as BOZAR, hosted "Macedonian Dreams," an exclusive concert organised by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of North Macedonia. The performance, which began at 19:00, featured the country's National Jazz Orchestra in a project that fuses traditional Macedonian folk music with contemporary jazz arrangements. The orchestra was led by conductor Vladimir Nikolov and joined on stage by acclaimed Belgian saxophonist Nicolas Kummert, in a collaboration that placed Macedonian musical heritage in direct dialogue with the Belgian and wider European jazz scene.

The programme drew a mixed audience of Brussels-based diplomats, cultural professionals, members of the Macedonian diaspora, and Belgian music lovers. Organisers framed the evening as more than a concert. Speaking to guests on site, representatives of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism described the event as an expression of North Macedonia's commitment to cooperation with the European Union and NATO, and expressed hope that cultural initiatives of this kind would help accelerate the country's path toward EU membership. North Macedonia became a NATO member in March 2020 and has been an EU candidate country since 2005, with accession negotiations formally launched in July 2022.

The concert was followed by a networking hour, during which guests exchanged impressions of the performance, met with members of the orchestra, and engaged with information stands set up by the Ministry. The promotional materials presented in the foyer focused on tourism in North Macedonia, highlighting the country's natural landscapes around Lake Ohrid and the Mavrovo National Park, its layered cultural heritage stretching from antiquity through the Byzantine and Ottoman periods, and the everyday warmth of Macedonian hospitality. For an audience in Brussels, the evening offered a rare and tangible glimpse of a country still working to make its presence felt on the European cultural map.