The role of public service media (PSM) in casting a spotlight on WWI commemorations was highlighted during a Media Brunchtime event (19 June) at the EBU’s Brussels office.

EBU Director General Ingrid Deltenre briefed stakeholders and journalists about the Eurovision-led co-production featuring a historic performance by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in Sarajevo (28 June). The live TV event will be produced by EBU Members BHRT (Bosnia & Herzegovina), France Télévisions and ZDF (Germany) to mark the 100 year anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War.

Ms Deltenre said planning for the event had begun 5 years ago.

“For public service broadcasters, it was natural that we should want to cover such an event. It’s our obligation to give more context and depth, and to put events into historical perspective,” she said. “The starting point was – what were the ideas, what were the projects, and how could we cooperate?”

The concert programme includes a highly symbolic selection of music and was presented by Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra President, Professor Dr Clemens Hellsberg.

Dr Hellsberg said that the pieces by Joseph Haydn, Frank Schubert, Alban Berg, Johannes Brahms, Maurice Revel and Josef Strauss speak to all Europeans in a language they universally understand.

“Music is spoken and understood all over the world by people who would like to listen,” he said. “This is a journey through time and a journey through the human soul. Each masterpiece is a universe.”

Political context was given to the occasion by British Member of the European Parliament, Richard Corbett, who applauded the public service media initiative.

“This event helps remind us that the original motivation for creating the European Union was to say, ‘never again,’” he said. “But as we look beyond the borders at what is happening in Ukraine, in Syria and in Sarajevo as recently as 20 years ago, it’s a reminder of how fragile peace can be; how we need to work at it, to create structures to bring countries together, is vital.”

The production is the centrepiece to a series of themed projects offered by PSM to mark the events of 1914–1918 and their continued relevance to contemporary European society.

The concert will take place at Vijećnica, the recently-renovated National University Library of Sarajevo, and will be attended by European leaders and broadcast across Europe by over more than 40 TV and radio broadcasters from the EBU community.