Esteemed audience, dear friends of our orchestra,
Our first year together in Belgrade has passed in the blink of an eye… How dynamic this period has been! In addition to presenting great works of classical-romantic orchestral literature, we have also recorded our first CD, performed chamber music in various ensembles, and responded to our listeners’ questions at our matinée concerts. I am extremely pleased with this intensive cooperation and I can hardly wait to present to you our new season.
This time, our most diverse musical interpretations will focus on the state of being human – love, faith, hope, desperation, strength – all the emotional levels of our existence are presented in a masterful and multifaceted way by notes. As a new addition, we are including opera and giving it great significance: the dark and saga-filled Bluebeard’s Castle with its secret doors fascinates the beautiful Judith, who does everything to discover all their secrets. This only, magnificent, opera by Béla Bartók, is like a good crime story: once you start reading it you cannot put it down. We will present to you a concert performance of this work, and also the first act of Richard Wagner’s opera The Valkyrie, in which a hero, wounded and fleeing from his enemies, meets his sister and falls in love with her. I can promise you some exceptional evenings with our amazing orchestra and the world’s most renowned opera stars, who will gladly come to sing these operas in Belgrade.
But, these are only a few examples from our long list of preeminent works which the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra will offer to its public in the new concert season. You will also be able to hear Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection), Bruckner’s majestic Eighth Symphony, Scriabin’s Poem of Ecstasy, Janáček’s Sinfonietta, and many other masterpieces. The roster of our world famous soloists and guest conductors is also long: Andreas Ottensamer, Nikolai Lugansky, Alina Pogostkina, Christian Poltéra, Howard Griffiths… To them, and to all the others, I hereby wish a warm welcome to Belgrade. Belgrade – the urban heart of the Balkans, a fascinating metropolis linking traditional and modern, and a warm and friendly public, that is, you! In Belgrade I am now also at home, and I am happy to be able to greet you at our concerts.

Sincerely,
Gabriel Feltz
Chief Conductor
Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra

What is humankind with everything that it comprises? All the feelings and conditions that exemplify what it means to be human: love, darkness, ascension, freedom and wisdom – are the very things that drive each and every one of us. Today, when it seems difficult to be human, the idea of the Belgrade Philharmonic’s new season, Being Human, is to use the magic pages of orchestral literature to take us back to our basic human values that are nowadays all-too frequently being neglected. Hence the idea to use archaic and forgotten Serbian words of diverse origin as the titles of our series, and of the entire season.
Our already standard form of five series, with five concerts each, features works of various styles of classical music through the ages, most notably the monumental symphonies of Bruckner, Mahler, and Shostakovich, as well as the masterpieces of Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Mozart, Sibelius, and Franck, which are an essential part of every orchestra repertoire. Those who follow world trends in classical music will be exclusively treated to more contemporary compositions that are very topical in the world today: Asyla by Thomas Adès, as well concertos by Pēteris Vasks and Osvaldo Golijov. Despite the fact that these are relatively recent compositions, they have already been included into the repertoires of the world’s leading orchestras. Our own contribution to enriching the world’s modern-day concert repertoire is a commissioned piece for alto saxophone and orchestra: Love! – Sax Concerto, by Ivan Brkljačić, especially written for the Belgrade Philharmonic. Also, joining our orchestra after a pause of several years will be the Branko Krsmanović Cultural Academic Society’s Obilić Choir, performing the great works of Bernstein and Mahler.
From a host of activities, we would like to single out our children’s programs, to which, in the upcoming season we are also adding baby concerts, then our ensemble’s tours all over Serbia and abroad, a third edition of our orchestra’s academy – Philcademy, the second season of Musical Talks with Gabriel Feltz.
Even though you may find it difficult, albeit amusing, to try to work out the fluent Serbian pronunciation of the titles of our series, you will definitely listen to a lot of quality music performed by preeminent conductors and soloists, together with the best orchestra in this part of the world – the Belgrade Philharmonic.
We hope that all of those who have come to love the Belgrade Philharmonic or only now plan to do so, will find our programs relaxing, fulfilling, educational, exciting, shocking, confusing, or soothing, because these very emotions that music can awaken or invoke, are what Being Human is all about.

Danica Maksimović,
Asja Radonjić, M. Sc.
Program Managers
Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra

The entire repertoire is available HERE.

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