Belgrade Philharmonic Opens Fortissimo Season
The 2026/27 season opened under Dzosel Visent, with 25 concerts to follow through June, including Zubin Mehta on October 23 and Lang Lang on December 13.
The season, which runs through June 2027, began with three scores on the stand: Milan Mihajlovic’s Memento, a concerto by William Walton and a symphony by Sergei Prokofiev. That is how the Belgrade Philharmonic opened its 2026/27 season, titled Fortissimo, according to an RTS report broadcast on Friday evening, October 9.
The first concert was conducted by Dzosel Visent. RTS does not say which Walton concerto was performed, which number Prokofiev’s symphony carries or who the soloist was, so those details remain open.
What links three such different composers?
The conductor answered that in a statement to RTS, and he did not hedge:
“What links the works on the program is modernity. Every work in the repertoire, at the time it was written, was a turning point. An advance in the way of composing, an evolution in thinking. The music is modern, fresh, the ties to the past are cut, the works are turned toward the future.”
That is how Dzosel Visent explained the choice. RTS also reports that in Mihajlovic’s Memento he hears a synthesis of the thoughtful and the moving, in Walton’s concerto a path from the lyrical through the playful and fast back to the emotional, and in Prokofiev a mix of sarcasm and melancholy, euphoria and triumph.
The orchestra’s horn player Nikola Ciric told the same report: “The Belgrade Philharmonic never disappoints its audience, with grandiose programs as well as with important soloists and conductors.” He singled out Prokofiev’s symphony as interesting because, in his words, it is devoted to the greatness of the human spirit.
What is on the calendar through June?
Fortissimo is dedicated to the notable figures in the orchestra’s history and comprises 25 concerts. The Philharmonic announced the season in June, on its 103rd birthday, and according to that announcement the concerts are held at Kolarac.
The two biggest names arrive within the first two months:
- Zubin Mehta performs with the orchestra on October 23 at Kolarac
- Lang Lang gives a gala concert on December 13 at the Sava Centre
- New Year’s concerts are scheduled for December 24 and 25, 2026, at Kolarac
A notice on the orchestra’s website, which opens with the announcement of Mehta’s return, also says subscriber tickets have been on sale since October 5, with general sales starting October 7. Concerts are also planned for Flag Day, Candlemas (Sretenje) and Vidovdan.
The season’s conductors include Howard Griffiths, Stanislav Kocanovski, Uros Lajovic, Daniel Raiskin, Robert Trevino and Enrico Onofri. Among Serbian soloists, the announced names are violinist Gordan Nikolic, soprano Tamara Banjesevic, cellist Petar Pejcic, pianist Vladimir Milosevic, concertmaster Mihail Andruscenko and trumpeter Jovan Savic.
Where does the orchestra tour before November?
According to the calendar on the Philharmonic’s website, the orchestra plays in Sofia on October 28 and appears at the 58th BEMUS on October 30. Mehta’s visit has a backstory of its own: with the maestro, who turned 90 this year, the Philharmonic gave two concerts in Mumbai on January 15 and 16, 2026, the orchestra’s first trip to India in its 102-year history. Belgrade will now welcome him at Kolarac on October 23.
