On Friday, February 21, 2025, the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra is set to present the world premiere of Saxophone Concerto by Petar Stojanović, performed by Milan Savić (Kolarac Hall, 8 PM). This long-lost and forgotten piece will mark a major moment in Serbian musical history, taking center stage under the baton of the Belgrade Philharmonic’s honorary conductor, Uroš Lajovic.

Petar Stojanović holds a significant place in Serbian music history, having made an extraordinary and almost revolutionary contribution to the country’s concert repertoire. His Saxophone Concerto is the first of its kind in Serbian music and a pioneering work on a global scale, as it is one of the earliest concertos ever written for this instrument. When it was composed, fewer than ten concertos for alto saxophone and orchestra existed. Now, more than 80 years later, the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra is correcting this historical oversight bringing this forgotten masterpiece back to life, thanks to the initiative of the Belgrade Philharmonic’s very own program editors, Asja Radonjić and Danica Maksimović.

The concerto’s long-awaited premiere will be performed by Milan Savić, a recipient of the French Order of Arts and Letters, and a passionate advocate for the saxophone, both as a performer and as an educator.

I first heard about Petar Stojanović’s Saxophone Concerto when I was a student. At the time, all I knew was that there was no record of it ever being performed and that the score was likely stored in the archives of the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, accessible only to musicologists. A few years ago, Asja Radonjić and Danica Maksimović developed a plan to finally bring this long-overlooked work to the stage. However, when we searched the archives, we discovered that the solo part was missing — most likely given to the saxophonist who was supposed to perform it back in 1942. Because of the Serbia’s wartime occupation at the time, the concert was never held. For this occasion, I kindly asked composer Jovana Stefanović to reconstruct the solo part from the conductor’s score we had available. Since Stojanović often dedicated his works to fellow musicians, I was also curious to find out who this concerto might have been written for. Unfortunately, even Serbian jazz legend Bubiša Simić couldn’t say for sure, Savić explained.

This concert by the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra is entirely dedicated to reformations and musical visionaries. Uroš Lajovic, a former chief conductor of the Belgrade Philharmonic, was named honorary conductor during the orchestra’s centennial celebration, in recognition of his transformative influence. In addition to Stojanović’s concerto, he will conduct The Ruler of the Spirits Overture by Carl Maria von Weber, a reformer in the realm of opera. Finally, the evening program will conclude with Felix Mendelssohn’s Reformation Symphony.