On July 23rd, Portugal's Orquestra Juvenil Geração debuted the compositions of Mário Laginha, Carlos Garcia, Anne Victorino d’Almeida, Ana Seara, and Marta Domingues (Portugal), George Dousis and María Gouvali (Greece), Giorgio Karvellos and Geórgia Christoforou (Cyprus), co-created with musicians of migrant origin, in a grand concert at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation's Grand Auditorium.

In this concert, filled with energy and emotion, the Orquestra Juvenil Geração presented nine out of the fifteen works created within the context of the B-Me project: Blending Melodies: Bridging Cultural Identities. The project is implemented by the Associação das Orquestras Sinfónicas Juvenis Sistema Portugal (Orquestra Geração), Sistema Cyprus, El Sistema Greece, and is co-financed by the European Union.

In addition to the Orquestra Geração, young musicians from Sistema Cyprus and El Sistema Greece also premiered the compositions in their communities, created by the fifteen composers involved in the project.

The concerts took place on June 23rd at the Municipal Theater of Nicosia (Cyprus) under the auspices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and at the Kolonos Theater (Greece), as part of the Athens Open-Air Film Festival. The presence of the composers during rehearsals allowed the musicians to be introduced to the inspirations coming from their fellow musicians of migrant origin.

Mário Laginha and Ana Seara travelled to Greece to accompany the rehearsals of El Sistema Greece, while Carlos Garcia and Anne Victorino d’Almeida worked with the musicians of Sistema Cyprus. Portugal welcomed composers María Gouvali and Geórgia Christoforou, as well as composer Giorgos Karvellos, who, like their Portuguese counterparts, were present at the concert held at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, under the High Patronage of His Excellency the President of the Republic.

The compositions, created by Portuguese, Cypriot, and Greek composers, will be made available for other orchestras around the world to perform, facilitating the understanding of different cultures through music and emphasizing the value and importance of cultural diversity.

Implemented in Portugal, Cyprus, and Greece since June 2022, the B-Me project aims to bring together five local composers with refugee, migrant, or descendant musicians in each of these three countries. The goal is to create original works that blend different cultural identities and promote the understanding of other cultures through music.