Under the baton of the legendary conductor Neeme Jarvi, the Belgrade Philharmonic held a concert at the National Center for Performing Arts in Beijing on Tuesday and was given a ten-minute standing ovation after the performance of compositions by Verdi, Tchaikovsky and Berlioz.
The audience reacted with big rounds of applause after a masterful performance of Verdi's overture from the opera "The Power of Destiny", Berlioz's "Fantastic Symphony" - and young Giovanni Zanon joined as a soloist in Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto.
As in the previous concerts in Xi'an and Weifang, the audience in Beijing did not let the Philharmonic leave the stage until they had played all three encores. Thus, the orchestra symbolically united two cultures by performing the favorite Chinese song "My Home" and "Turtle Dove" by Stevan Hristic, and the guest performance ended in a very emotional and solemn tone with Sibelius' “Andante Festivo”.
The concert in Beijing was also the central event of the prestigious International Orchestral Forum, which brings together the managements of the world's leading orchestras, at which the Belgrade Philharmonic was in the center of attention. Program editors Asja Radonjic and Danica Maksimovic participated in a panel discussion on the topic of establishing platforms for intensive cooperation together with representatives of the New York Philharmonic, the Orchestra and Choir from Xian and the German Symphony Orchestra from Berlin, where they presented philharmonic projects for the establishment and intensifying of regional and international cooperation.
The Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra's China tour, which began on the 8th of November in Xi'an, is joined by outstanding soloists - violin virtuosos Huang Mengla and Giovanni Zanon. The program will include works by Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Berlioz, and Beethoven.
After the concert in Beijing, the Belgrade Philharmonic will crown its tour in Shanghai, on the occasion of the centenary of the orchestra, with a concert scheduled for November 17 in Shanghai Grand Theater.