After fourteen years performing on stages in more than thirty countries, the Barcelona Gipsy Balkan Orchestra (BGKO) embarks on Balkan Reunion, a project that celebrates the meeting of musical traditions from the Balkans and Eastern Europe through exceptional collaborations. Presented to great acclaim in Belgrade, the show now arrives in Barcelona as part of the MASiMAS Festival, offering an evening conceived as a unique event in an incomparable setting.
The project brings together BGKO’s core ensemble with guest artists representing diverse musical traditions and languages, creating a constantly evolving sonic mosaic. Among them is the Hungarian violinist Roby Lakatos, a legendary figure renowned for his virtuosity and broad stylistic range. Lakatos has explained in interviews that his style “includes elements of gypsy music, classical music, and jazz, and what I do is improvise and play with these influences every night.” Alongside him, instruments such as the cimbalom of Ľubomír Gašpar, the cello of Sasha Agranov, and the voice of Magalí Sare broaden the ensemble’s expressive spectrum.
In its third visit to the Palau de la Música Catalana, BGKO presents a festive evening in which traditional Balkan melodies blend with contemporary arrangements and generous spaces for improvisation. The program unfolds as a borderless journey, where each musician contributes their personality and energy, and where musical tradition is reshaped in real time with contagious intensity.
Why you shouldn’t miss it: because Balkan Reunion is a celebration of cultures, styles, and virtuosity—an unrepeatable and fleeting experience that will transport you through rhythm, color, and emotion, with Lakatos and BGKO redefining tradition as something vibrant and utterly alive in the present.
