The Belgrade Philharmonic has beaten last year’s record, with more than 35,000 people attending its second open-air concert. This biggest ever picnic of classical music was held in New Belgrade’s Block 13, on the site of the Belgrade Philharmonic’s new building, which is being planned in the near future.

An HD Odyssey, Photo: S. Stevanovič

According to security estimates, this year’s event was attended by anywhere between 35,000 and 40,000 people directly inside the enclosed compound. Having in view the considerable interest at last year’s concert at this same place, this year the municipal services increased the compound where the concert was being held by around 30 percent. Even though this year the guest area was 50,000 square meters, it was still not big enough for all those who wanted to hear the Belgrade Philharmonic, and an additional several thousand people lined up along the outside fence effectively blocking the Nikola Tesla Boulevard.

The Second Musical Picnic, Photo: S. Stevanović

“Something impossible happened last night; we managed to surpass last year’s event, which I thought could not be repeated. Now is the moment to thank Chief Conductor Gabriel Feltz and all the musicians who were on the stage and who prepared themselves for this concert meticulously and with great dedication and who gave everything they had. I would like to thank all the colleagues from our production team who worked around the clock for days to make this momentous event such a huge success. I would also like to thank all our municipal logistics services who did a fine job this year too. And of course, I would like to thank our public from all parts of Serbia who listened to their orchestra, the Belgrade Philharmonic, with such finesse and then applauded and cheered as if attending a rock concert. Thank you everyone, and see you next June,” Ivan Tasovac, director of the Belgrade Philharmonic, said.

“An HD Odyssey” performed by the Belgrade Philharmonic on Sunday night raised the public to their feet, and the audience rewarded the 105 musicians and their chief conductor, Gabriel Feltz, with frenetic applause. The orchestra gave the audience an encore of a popular Dvorak tune, and Feltz bade farewell to the public with the following words: “This is your city, your orchestra – The Belgrade Philharmonic!”