As many as 17,397 music lovers accepted the invitation of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra to vote for the programme of the biggest open-air concert of classical music in Serbia’s history, scheduled on 25 June.

Over three weeks of voting, more than 5.8 million votes were cast for 25 compositions offered by the orchestra to the audience to choose from.

The free concert near the Palace of Serbia will be directed by Gabriel Feltz, BPO’s Chief Conductor. “I am fascinated by the Belgrade Philharmonic’s subscribers, whom I have got to know well in our regular concerts. I feel special connection with them, which I care about very much. That is why I am especially impatient to meet the audience from all over Serbia and the region in this open-air gift concert from the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra”, said Feltz.

The landslide winner of the vote is the piece Danzon No. 2 by celebrated Mexican composer Arturo Marquez, with 634,865 votes, followed by Dmitri Shostakovich’s Waltz, with 594,269 votes. Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre won 446,636 votes, Stevan Hristić’s Turtledove got 423,338, while William Tell by Gioachino Rossini made the top five with 420,737 votes.

In the concert for tens of thousands of music lovers, the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra will also perform A. Khachaturian’s Sabre Dance, Maurice Ravel’s Bolero, Richard Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Waltz of the Flowers, Edvard Grieg’s In the Hall of the Mountain King, Georges Bizet’s Carmen overture and John Williams’ The Imperial March from the film Star Wars.

It is still a secret what the orchestra will play for encore, while the final list with the number of votes for each of the pieces can be seen HERE.