International Choir Festival “Zlatna vila” resulted as a natural sequence of development of choral singing in Prijedor. Choral tradition since 1895 when the Serbian Church Singing Society “Vila” was founded, the work of elementary and secondary music school, city choirs in different period and children’s choirs in all elementary schools were the realistic ground for initiating such international choir manifestation.
The first choir festivities in Prijedor called “Choir Singing“, of non – competition character held in 2001, were designed with intention to near and return the beauty of choral singing and values of the Serbian spiritual and secular tradition to young people in a modern manner. Very soon after this manifestation grew into International festival of competitive character which enabled the expert and unbiased comparison and judging this kind of music, stronger motivation of young people for choral singing and creating the opportunity to transfer the best experiences in the country and internationally, gathering conductors and pedagogues and organizing seminars and round tables.
The Festival encourages composers to compose new works of choral music, and what gives the Festival a special weight are the strict propositions, precisely-designed regulations of the Jury’s work which has been composed from the very beginning of excellent authorities of choral music and choral art in general. So far at International Choir Festival “Zlatna vila“ participated over a hundred of excellent choirs from Poland, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Ukraine, Russia, Italy, Greece, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Festival has been recognized for a long time by establishing better and direct connections in the ex-Yugoslavia and abroad.