Since one of our key goals is to foster new concert audiences, encouraged by excellent public reception of the programmes for younger generations, we have committed to strategic designing and implementation of programmes for children and youth. The learning programmes are intended for children from the tender preschool age to the population of university students.
Our mission is to ensure that as many children as possible are given an opportunity to visit a concert hall, to hear and see an orchestra at work, as well as to motivate young people to learn more about the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra and classical music. To that end, we have complemented our regular concert season with series of children’s concerts.
Organised visits of children of various age to our rehearsals and concerts is also a part of this strategic plan. Depending on the objectives of the visit and children’s age, they learn about the institution, the building, the orchestra’s working methods, elementary musical concepts, or the basics of management in the field of culture.
With that aim, we have also upheld a successful practice of sending smaller BPO ensembles to visit kindergartens and schools, where children can make direct contact with the musicians and the instruments, in an environment in which they feel comfortable.
We are continually striving to enhance this aspect of our work, which we consider one of the most important goals of our institution, generating the highest social value.
Since we aspire to nurture our concert audience since their very early age, we organise series of children’s concerts twice a year.
Children’s programmes involve elements of actual symphonic concerts, featuring a full-sized orchestra on the stage, a conductor and a standard symphonic repertoire, as well as an actor taking the role of the narrator with a view to introducing the youngsters into the world of classical music in a way that is tailored to their interests. The costumes, illustrations, instrument presentations and the games we play are some of the ways in which we are trying to bring children closer to symphonic music.
The month of October is reserved for preschool children, whereas the programmes organised in March target the pupils of primary school grades I–IV. These two periods are the merriest parts of our concert seasons, when we are delighted to welcome more than 2000 children in the Belgrade Philharmonic Hall over ten days.
In several recent seasons, our very successful children’s performances included Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, J. Williams’ soundtrack from Harry Potter, Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, Camille Saint-Saëns’ The Carnival of the Animals, Paul Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, F. Poulenc’s The Story of Babar, P. I. Tchaikovsky’s symphonic fairy tale The Nutcracker…
The concerts are organised on weekday mornings, in cooperation with preschool institutions and schools. For all information and requests, please contact us by email at karte@bgf.rs.
The timeline of scheduled concerts can be seen HERE.
Open rehearsals are one of the BPO’s best publicly received projects. This type of interactive approach to education is intended for children of preschool and primary school age. The rehearsals are hosted by the Belgrade Philharmonic musicians, who introduce youngsters into the world of classical music in a way adapted to their age.
The workshops consist of three parts: introductory presentation of instruments, instrument try-outs and attendance at the orchestra’s regular rehearsals, in which children get to experience the full symphonic sound for fifteen minutes.
The presentation is tailored to children’s age –the youngest of them are approached primarily through games, whereas the programme for school children includes more educational elements.
Open rehearsals are organised on a monthly basis during the regular concert season. In the season 2023/24, open rehearsals are scheduled on:
04.10.2023.
29.11.2023.
28.02.2024.
03.04.2024.
08.05.2024.
22.05.2024.
Please send all inquiries to filhademija@bgf.co.rs.
These programmes are intended for schoolchildren, as well as for students. Depending on the age, the visit to the Belgrade Philharmonic includes a presentation about the institution, getting to know the musicians and learning about the orchestra, a tour around the building, learning about the capacities and plans of the institution and attendance at the orchestra’s rehearsals.
In cooperation with music schools, we organise study visits to our rehearsals, with a possibility for selected students to attend our concerts.
For organised visits by students of management, in cooperation with professors of specific subjects we prepare presentations that address specific topics. Furthermore, we provide support for writing scientific papers in the field of cultural management.
Our guests in the recent seasons included groups of students from the Mathematical Gymnasium Belgrade, high school students from Šabac, Lebane, GornjiMilanovac, Kragujevac, students from music schools Vojislav Vučković and Kosta Manojlović from Belgrade and Isidor Bajić from Novi Sad, students of the Faculty of Organisational Sciences, the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Megatrend University, Faculty of Media and Communications and others.
If you are interested in participating in this programme, please send your applications to pr@bgf.co.rs.
As of 2016, we have launched a long-term project – Music Lesson with the BPO Musicians, implemented in cooperation with Belgrade schools. It is envisaged as a complement to the curriculum of the Music Education subject. The concept is to organise music lessons with the BPO musicians, in which children can learn about the most important groups of instruments. We have held our first music lessons with 7th grade pupils from the primary schools Mihailo Petrović Alas and Skadarlija.
Click here to see what a music lesson with us looks like
Furthermore, we are continuing our visits to kindergartens, allowing children to get their first experiences and knowledge about music in a familiar environment.
We are making our best efforts to bring all children’s programmes outside of Belgrade, as well, to reach youngsters who are not in the position to come and visit us.
Here you can see the BPO Wind Quintet’s performance of Peter and the Wolf in Ruma and Čačak, for more than a 1000 children
Vivaldi’s Four Seasons – a New Year’s gift to the children from the Institute for Protection of Children and Youth
