Chief Conductor Gabriel Feltz and the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra will play Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No 9 on Friday, 26 January (Kolarac, 8pm). The concert presents a unique opportunity for the audience to hear the performance of a piece described by Alban Berg as “the most heavenly thing Mahler has written”.

“It poses a great challenge before us, since this symphony is one of those sacred masterpieces of the symphonic repertoire. To face Mahler’s complex symphonies as a conductor is a test of maturity. I had studied them extensively and meticulously since I was twelve, yet I did not dare conduct them until twenty years later and by now I have performed all of them. I conduct virtually of the nine symphonies quite often, which makes me a very fortunate conductor”, said Gabriel Feltz.

Mahler’s Symphony No 9 is the final piece the composer completed before his death and, as such, it became a part of the Curse of the Ninth Symphony – the myth that is also associated with Beethoven, Schubert, Bruckner and Dvorak. In the symphony manuscript, he wrote the words Farewell! Farewell, which have had many interpretations: his farewell to his late daughter, to his own life, the prediction of the inevitable ending of the romantic era, and even of the carnage of World War I.

The Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra’s concert is entirely dedicated to the 19th century greatest musical personage. A hundred standing tickets will be available an hour ahead of the concert (from 7pm) at the Kolarac Ticket Office.