The new concert season, titled Nothing but Music – Because Experience is Priceless, starts on Friday, 23 September with a concert from the series For Lovers (Kolarac, 8pm). The theme of love opens with 10,000 Things, a piece written by creative partnership duo of Aleksandra Vrebalov and John King, as a commission of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra. Under the baton of Daniel Raiskin, the menu For Lovers includes music of Schreker and Tchaikovsky, as well as Sibelius’ Violin Concerto played by Kolja Blacher, former Concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
The new concert season features the project of five commissions to Serbian composers, through which the Belgrade Philharmonic aspires to contribute to the development of contemporary Serbian music. Authors of different generations and stylistic preferences have been selected to write music for the Belgrade Philharmonic in line with the thematic series that comprise the season 2016/17.
The first one to be performed is the piece of Serbian acclaimed composer Aleksandra Vrebalov, who lives and works in the USA. Aleksandra and her partner/colleague, American composer John King, elaborated on the process of creation of this unconventional and unique piece:
“As we joined efforts on 10,000 Things, we wished to explore ideas about authorship, ownership and the creative process without a definition of „myself“, re-examining the concept of individuality and personal style in art. Our togetherness thus became the critical part of our method of work on this piece.” The composers found it very exciting that their individual musical expressions would blend in together and evolve into an entirely new, special language. “The fundamental qualities that we fostered in the making of the 10,000 Things were acceptance, trust, curiosity, imagination, openness and joy”, the composers said.
Music lovers will also hear the Nachtstück from Schreker’s opera The Distant Sound and Tchaikovsky’s symphonic interpretation of the tragic fate of Francesca da Rimini, immortalized in Dante’s Divine Comedy. Sibelius’ Concerto for Violin and Orchestra is one of the most charming pieces for this instrument, and Kolja Blacher will play it on his Stradivarius.
In the season 2016/17, the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra will continue giving concerts For Lovers, For Beginners, For Connoisseurs, For Adventurers and For Megalomaniacs. The entire concert season has been sold out and, following major success with the series of repeat concerts, titled Philharmania – Because Once is Not Enough, the orchestra will again in this season replay a selection of its most interesting programmes.
