A special concert atmosphere as the Philharmonic Orchestra plays with all lights out.

On Friday, January 27th, chief conductor Gabriel Feltz and the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra are performing a program celebrating Warsaw at Kolarac Hall, starting from 8 p.m. It will be the first performance of the acclaimed pianist Claire Huangchi and soprano Marija Jelic with the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, as they will perform works by Chopin and an unusual symphony by a Polish composer Henryk Górecki, in a special concert setting – a complete darkness.

The first thing that comes to mind when we say Poland or Warsaw is certainly Frederic Chopin the greatest icon for piano enthusiasts. His second concerto for piano will be performed by Claire Huangchi, a remarkable young American pianist who never ceases to amaze audiences around the world in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, the Paris Philharmonic or Zurich’s Tonhalle.

The Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra will set up a special atmosphere in the Kolarac Hall by performing Górecki’s unusual Symphony No. 3 in the second part of the concert., Chief conductor Gabriel Feltz will present this extensive work to the Belgrade audience again after twenty long years. Soprano Marija Jelic, a young opera star, will make her debut as a soloist.

Henryk Górecki is one of the representatives of the Polish school of composers. He rose to world fame with his piece from 1976 for solo soprano and the orchestra called Symphony of Sad Songs. Several curiosities are associated with this work: the recording of the London Sinfonietta in 1992 was sold in over a million copies, which was completely unusual for an album of contemporary classical music. The recording also topped the charts. To this day, such a commercial success remains a phenomenon, as it had been otherwise exclusively typical for popular music. Also, this piece drew the attention of one of the most beautiful female vocals from an entirely different musical genre: Beth Gibbons, the lead vocalist of the band Portishead, recorded this piece back in 2014, singing it in Polish together with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the legendary Krzysztof Penderecki.