The Belgrade Philharmonic String Quartet will open the Sombor Music Festival on Sunday, 3 April, at the National Theatre Sombor (8pm). Jelena Dragnić (first violin), Vladan Lončar (second violin), Boris Brezovac (viola) and Aleksandar Latković (cello) will perform a part of their current repertoire, accompanied by clarinettist Ognjen Popović as the special guest at the concert.
 
On the opening night of the fifth edition of the re-established festival, the Sombor audience will hear pieces from Classicism and the Soviet avant-garde. The musicians will play Mozart’s String Quartet in D minor, K.421, Shostakovich’s String Quartet in D major, Op. 83, as well as Weber’s Clarinet Quintet in B-flat major, Op. 83.
 
“We have been deeply honoured with the opportunity to open the SOMUS festival and play a part of the repertoire that we have been performing in our recent international guest appearances. So far, our reception with the audiences has been phenomenal, which I think we owe to the energy we are full of. When we click together, the concert has to be a success regardless of the environment in which we are playing. Hopefully, it will be like that in Sombor, too”, said violinist Vladan Lončar.
 
“We are delighted to play at the opening of the Sombor Music Festival on the BPO String Quartet’s fifth birthday, because our first official concert half a decade ago occurred nearby – in Subotica”, cellist Aleksandar Latković explained.
 
The String Quartet’s most recent successes include performances on concert stages such as Manarat al Saadiyat as part of the Abu Dhabi Classics Festival, season opening of the “Chamber Music in Desert” at Qasr al Sarab in Liwa Oasis, the United Arab Emirates, and a concert at the Centre Culturel de Serbie in Paris. They are currently preparing two concerts in the Turkish city of Izmir, due in mid-April. In cooperation with clarinettist Ognjen Popović, they recorded their first CD with the music of Beethoven and Brahms, published by the Belgrade Philharmonic.