The Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra gave its first open-air concert, which was enjoyed by a crowd of 25\u201330 thousand. Under the Chief Conductor Gabriel Feltz, the orchestra performed the programme that had been selected by the audience, with the celebrated Maestro Zubin Mehta featuring as the special guest. The BPO invited music lovers to a concert picnic at the site where the new concert hall will be built, in the New Belgrade Block 13, near the Palace of Serbia.<\/p>\n
The Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra stayed true to its tradition and opened its performance at 8pm sharp, with Bizet\u2019s Carmen Overture. However, before they got a chance to play the first notes, they were greeted by a mixed-generation audience with thunderous applause. The orchestra\u2019s new Chief Conductor Gabriel Feltz welcomed the visitors in the Serbian language, setting the whole atmosphere on fire.<\/p>\n
– This is your orchestra and I am proud to lead it. We are playing for you, so enjoy it \u2013 said Feltz.<\/p>\n
As the sunlight slowly faded at the site where the orchestra\u2019s building will be constructed, the musicians played the Waltz of the Flowers from Tchaikovsky\u2019s ballet The Nutcracker, In the Hall of the Mountain King from Grieg\u2019s Peer Gynt, followed by Ravel\u2019s Bolero. The whole park near the confluence of Sava and the Danube was echoing with Saint-Sa\u00ebns\u2019 Danse macabre and Khachaturian\u2019s Sabre Dance, which energized the audience to start hopping and conducting.<\/p>\n
– Thank you very much. You are an excellent audience \u2013 said Chief Conductor Gabriel Feltz in fluent Serbian.<\/p>\n
The programme continued with Richard Wagner\u2019s Ride of the Valkyries, while the piece Danzon No. 2 by Arturo Marquez, which received the most votes of the audience, was specially announced.<\/p>\n
These were followed by John Williams\u2019 Imperial March from the blockbuster film Star Wars. The younger part of the audience immediately jumped on their feet to capture this extraordinary moment with their mobile phones. The whole audience danced as the orchestra played Shostakovich\u2019s Waltz.<\/p>\n
The crowd was also delighted to hear the William Tell Overture, while the ovations were the loudest for the suite Turtledove from the ballet The Legend of Ohrid by Stevan Hristi\u0107, founder of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra.<\/p>\n
Between 25 and 30 thousand people gave a thunderous applause to welcome Maestro Zubin Mehta on the stage. The famous conductor directed the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra\u2019s performance of the finale of Beethoven\u2019s triumphant Fifth Symphony. The ovations lasted for about ten minutes.<\/p>\n
Then Feltz returned for encore, for which the orchestra played Stanislav Bini\u010dki\u2019s March on the Drina. The applause was louder than the speakers. Then, the audience was given a chance to see what it feels like to listen to the New Year\u2019s concert of the Vienna Philharmonic, as they enjoyed Johann Strauss\u2019 Radetzky March, directed by Zubin Mehta.<\/p>\n
The concert spectacle was concluded with Leonard Bernstein\u2019s Mambo, conducted by Feltz.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am here to support the construction of the concert hall, at this exact site where this fantastic concert was played tonight. I hope that we will meet again in two or three years in the new concert hall\u201d, said Maestro Zubin Mehta after the concert.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra gave its first open-air concert, which was enjoyed by a crowd of 25\u201330 thousand. Under the Chief Conductor Gabriel Feltz, the orchestra performed the programme that had been selected by the audience, with the celebrated Maestro Zubin Mehta featuring as the special guest. The BPO invited music lovers to a concert […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12213,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[112],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n