Admirers of Mahler’s music will have a special opportunity to hear the chamber version of his Symphony No 4, in an intimate ambience of the Belgrade Philharmonic Hall, on Thursday, 28 April, at 7pm (Studentski trg 11). For this arrangement by Klaus Simon for soprano and chamber orchestra, the BPO musicians will be joined by singer Evgenija Jeremić, under the artistic leadership of violinist Gregory Ahss.
 
Nowadays it is difficult to imagine how such a charming piece of music could have been considered as insignificant and how it provoked a protest of the audience and critics in its premiere in Munich, in 1901. Mahler’s Symphony No 4 is a symbiosis of the qualities that define his overall style – love of nature, grotesque humour, rich orchestration, combination of instrumental and vocal genres, oeuvre as the result of searching for the purpose of life.
 
Klaus Simon ‘shrunk’ the grandiose Symphony No 4 and adapted it for a smaller ensemble. In an attempt to retain, as much as possible, Mahler’s distinctive orchestral sound, the accompanist, pianist, conductor and artistic director of the Holst-Sinfonietta and the Young Opera Company gave this piece a completely new look.
 
Side by side with the regular concert season, for the past several years, the Belgrade Philharmonic has been developing its chamber music scene. This year, under the slogan “Inspired by Music”, it is focusing on larger chamber ensembles, while upholding the concept of artistic leadership. The fourth concert of this series features violinist Gregory Ahss, who regularly performs with the London Symphony Orchestra, Symphonie Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal. The tickets for this concert are available now.