2015 release ** "The Albanian patrol boat Katër i Radës sank in the Strait of Otranto in 1997 after being rammed by an Italian corvette that was trying to repel it. Around 100 women, men and children died while fleeing the civil war. Almost twenty years after that tragedy, the Albanian composer Admir Shkurtaj, who has lived in Salento by adoption, has written a contemporary chamber opera for the 2014 Venice Biennale (which commissioned it), with a libretto by Alessandro Leogrande and staged by the Cantieri Teatrali Koreja of Lecce, directed by Salvatore Tramacere. A one-act play for an ensemble of 8 musicians, including Shkurtaj on the accordion, 4 voices, 3 actors and the Albanian polyphonic choir Violinat e Lapardhase. A contemporary opera that includes elements of jazz and Albanian music and which has aroused great interest and success in Venice."