In the second concert of the Fire series, scheduled on Friday, 17 November (Kolarac, 8pm), the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of Howard Griffiths, flirts with witchcraft. Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain and Berlioz’s Symphonie phantastique come before and after Vaughan Williams’ Concerto for oboe and orchestra, performed by Sanja Romić, BPO’s principal oboist.

The fiery beginning of the programme with the Night on Bald Mountain is a depiction of the shortest night in the year, when witches perform a ritual that praises Satan until dawn. Witches’ Sabbath also marks the ending of the ornate Symphonie phantastique, in which the composer’s love obsession is told autobiographically through hallucinations due to opium abuse.

Between these two provocative pieces comes the subtle Oboe concerto by English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, performed by the Belgrade Philharmonic strings and their fellow musician from the orchestra – oboist Sanja Romić:

“One of the most delightful things for any musician is to share the joy of solo performance with her or his own orchestra. It is typically the winds who backstop the strings, considering that we sit behind them in the orchestra. Nevertheless, this time I will be in the central spot, flanked by all of them, for our joint performance”, said Sanja, principal oboist of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra.

Standing tickets are now available for all concerts of the BPO’s season 2017/18, at the Kolarac Ticket Office one hour before concerts.