The Centre has an ethos that is entirely original. The building resounds to all forms of music - from classical European to rock, techno to jazz, ambient to folk but although the Centre starts with music it does not end there. It starts life as a Bosnian institution but its international credentials have been forged with world-wide support. The construction and operation of the Centre is a War Child Music project. This aid charity started organising music workshops from the beginning of their time in Bosnia.
Most humans find comfort in music, whether they play instruments or listen to others play.
The stresses of life can be lessened with a Mozart concerto, an Indian raga, a Peruvian pipe tune, a drum and bass rhythm. How much more is that the case in a war zone. Children were brought together in shelters and cellars, in bombed ruins and, when safe, in open spaces, to make and listen to music, to sing, to beat drums, to strum guitars, to act and react together through music. These workshops began to take a structured form with War Child's association with Professor Nigel Osborne, who had organised a children's opera in Sarajevo at the height of the war. Osborne brought graduate students to Mostar from the Faculties of Music at Edinburgh and Hannover universities and intensive workshops started in many schools in and around Mostar.