2nd TRIETHNÉS FESTIVAL
27 – 30 August 2026

Theme 2026:
Back to the Beginning

In the Prespa region, the idea of returning is never a simple reversal of departure. It is not a step backwards, but part of a wider cycle that continues to unfold. People leave, and people come back. Seasons turn, the lake rises and recedes, paths that once fell silent are walked again. The beginning is not fixed in the past; it exists wherever movement completes its circle.

Villages that once emptied remain present in the landscape, not as relics of absence, but as thresholds. Doors that closed may open again. Houses that stood in stillness await new voices, familiar or unfamiliar. Return does not erase what has happened in between. It carries with it the distance travelled, the knowledge gathered elsewhere, and the quiet transformation of those who come back changed.

In Prespa, return is not only physical. It is the return of sound, of language, of gesture. Songs carried across borders find their way back to the place where they first emerged, altered by time and distance. Musical traditions, like the people who sustain them, move outward and inward in continuous exchange. What begins here travels far, and what returns brings with it the memory of elsewhere.

This year’s theme, Back to the Beginning, is not an attempt to recreate an origin as it once was, but to recognise the beginning as something living. A point that can be reached again, not in repetition, but in renewal. Each return marks both an end and a new departure. Each gathering becomes part of a longer continuum that extends beyond the present moment.

Through its programme of performances and newly commissioned works, the festival reflects this cyclical movement. Contemporary creation meets traditional forms, not to preserve them unchanged, but to allow them to continue evolving. Prespa becomes once again a place of convergence: of those who remained, those who left, and those who return. Not to remain permanently, but to reconnect, to listen, and to begin again.

About
TRIETHNÉS
Festival

About TRIETHNÉS Festival

TRIETHNÉS FESTIVAL is a contemporary music festival located at the tri-border region of Greece, Albania, and North Macedonia. Unique in its kind, its programming brings contemporary music into dialogue with traditional musical practices from the three neighbouring countries.

TRIETHNÉS aspires to serve as a platform for cultural diplomacy, cooperation, and contemporary artistic creation in the Balkans and beyond. Through music and the performing arts, the festival seeks to foster connection between communities of the region and to contribute to a more peaceful and equitable cultural landscape.