Saturday, 20 October 2018, Kolarac Hall at 8 PM
BELGRADE PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
Conductor GABRIEL FELTZ
Sophie Klussmann, Soprano
Charlotte Quadt, Mezzo-soprano
Brenden Gunnell, Tenor
Markus Eiche, Baritone
SLOVENIAN PHILHARMONIC CHOIR
Programme: Dragutin Gostuški: Belgrade, ouverture, Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 9
Prices 1.400 – 1.800 – 2.200

Founded in 1923, the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra has become established as the leading orchestra in the region and a breath of fresh air on the international concert scene. According to the international media, the Belgrade Philharmonic is Serbia’s most venerable orchestra (The Financial Times), one of the leading European orchestras (The Independent), a forward-looking orchestra (The Washington Post), and an ensemble that holds a great measure of heritage and pride (The New York Times).
Its distinctive image, stemming from its innovative artistic concepts and creative marketing, has given the orchestra its own recognizable identity. Hence, the Belgrade Philharmonic quickly attracted many famous names in classical music, which have supported its further development. Most notably, it has fostered a long-lasting friendship with Maestro Zubin Mehta, who regularly gives charity concerts with the Belgrade Philharmonic. Moreover, the Belgrade Philharmonic is the first orchestra in the region, and beyond, that begins its concert seasons with completely sold-out tickets.
As of 2017-18, the Belgrade Philharmonic's chief conductor is Gabriel Feltz, and its principal guest conductor is Daniel Raiskin.
During the past several years, the Belgrade Philharmonic has been on tour in Italy, Germany Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, France, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Oman, and, most notably, on its first-ever visit to the United States in October 2014, with performances in the Chicago Symphony Center, Cleveland's Severance Hall, the Strathmore Music Center in Washington, D.C. and New York's Carnegie Hall. Other recent successes include a spectacular concert at the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow in September 2016, with conductor Daniel Raiskin, which opened the Moscow State Philharmonic Society's concert season, and a concert at the Palace of Arts (MUPA) in Budapest, in November 2016, conducted by Fabrice Bollon. In September 2018, the Belgrade Philharmonic successfully opened the orchestra season of Musikverein Graz, performing two concerts under the baton of Gabriel Feltz.
In 2017 the Belgrade Philharmonic started a hugely-successful tradition of open-air concerts, the biggest outdoor classical music events in the Balkans. The first concert, under Chief Conductor Gabriel Feltz, with renowned Maestro Zubin Mehta as the guest of honor, was attended by more than 30,000 people. The following year, 2018, the Belgrade Philharmonic and Maestro Feltz topped last year's success by holding a second open-air concert for more than 40,000 people.
A significant contribution to the orchestra’s quality of work is the Belgrade Philharmonic Zubin Mehta Foundation, with its strategic partners. The orchestra's most important goals in the next five years are establishing and consolidating its position on the international music scene, promoting the orchestra overseas, and commencing the construction of a new concert venue in Belgrade through public-private partnership, with the help and support of the American Friends of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra Foundation, established in New York in 2012.

Gabriel Feltz is chief conductor of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra as of the 2017/2018 concert season. Since 2013, Feltz has been working concurrently as general music director of the Dortmund Opera and chief conductor of the Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra and after three very successful years his contract has been renewed through 2023. In addition to the Philharmonic Orchestra Altenburg-Gera (2001-2005) and the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra (2004–2013), this is his third consecutive position as chief conductor of a German orchestra.
By introducing some unusual programs and achieving a significant improvement in artistic quality with all these orchestras, he has managed to boost their concert attendance greatly. In 2007, the Sergei Rachmaninoff Foundation awarded Gabriel Feltz and the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra the Prix Rachmaninoff for their interpretation of the concert cycle of Rachmaninoff’s music. In addition, Feltz was principal guest conductor at the Basel Theater (2008–2013), where he completed several opera productions, which resulted in the Basel Theater being named Opera House of the Year in 2009 and 2010.
Gabriel Feltz was born in Berlin in 1971. From 1989 to 1994 he studied piano and orchestra conducting at the Hanns Eisler Music Conservatory in Berlin. After completing his studies, he was assistant to Gerd Albrecht at the Hamburg State Opera (1994-1995). His first employment was with the Lübeck Opera (1995-1997) and the Theater Bremen (1997-2001).
Gabriel Feltz has conducted leading orchestras in Germany and abroad, including the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, the Symphonieorchester of the Bayerischen Rundfunk, the Bavarian State Orchestra, the Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Frankfurt Opern- und Museumsorchester, the Staatskapelle Weimar, the orchestra of the Nationaltheater Mannheim, the Bamberger Symphoniker, the Essen Philharmonic, the Radio Symphony Orchestras of Berlin (RSB), Cologne (WDR), Leipzig (MDR), Hanover (NDR) and Saarbrücken (SR), the German National Youth Orchestra, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the Berner Symphonieorchester, the Sinfonieorchester Basel, the Orchestra of the Vlaamse Opera Antwerpen, the RTE National Symphony Orchestra (Ireland), the KBS Symphony Orchestra Seoul, the Orchestre Symphonique de Mulhouse, as well as the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, the China National Symphony Orchestra, and the Beijing Symphony Orchestra.
In 2017 Feltz conducted Mozart’s Magic Flute at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow during a tour with the Berlin Comic Opera. That same year he also conducted the Taiwan National Symphony Orchestra and the Philharmonic from Hangzhou, and he completed his series of recordings of Rachmaninoff’s symphonies with the Dortmund Philharmonic. In Belgrade he conducted the Belgrade Philharmonic at the biggest open-air concert of classical music in Serbia’s history, attended by some 25,000 people.
Feltz’s repertoire for the 2017/2018 season features new productions of Arabella by Richard Strauss, Eugene Onegin by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovski, and a Rachmaninoff/Tchaikovsky ballet production in the Dortmund Opera, as well as concerts of Mahler’s eight symphonies (including the recording of a CD) with the Dortrmund Philharmonic. As chief conductor of the Belgrade Philharmonic, he will be conducting eight concert programs in the current concert season.
Gabriel Feltz’s extensive discography makes him one of the most prominent conductors of his generation. His repertoire ranges from Mozart and Beethoven, to Rachmaninoff, Elgar, Prokofiev, Scriabin and Richard Strauss, to Luigi Nono and György Ligeti.
In 2007, Gabriel Feltz started recording all of Mahler’s symphonies with the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra for the Dreyer Gaido record label. The cycle has been highly acclaimed by critics as the most “extraordinary and controversial series in recent years.”
The recording of Luigi Nono’s Intolleranza 1960 performed by the Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra and the choir of the Bremen Opera under Gabriel Feltz, was awarded the Diapason d’Or in June 2013. Ottorino Respighi’s Belkis – Queen of Sheba, was released in 2013 on Blu-ray. This recording is the first complete performance of this piece since its world premiere in 1932 at Milan’s La Scala. The TV production of Aida am Rhein has brought Feltz huge success all over Europe (with live coverage on Swiss TV, 3Sat, RAI, ZDF) and is also available on DVD.
Gabriel Feltz’s most recent release is Symphony No. 3 by Sergei Rachmaninoff (from the Rachmaninoff Cycle) with the Dortmund Philharmonic (for Dreyer Gaido records).
His first ever recording with the Belgrade Philharmonic will be Symphony No. 3 by Reinhold Glière.

The Slovenian Philharmonic Choir was established as a professional choir under the name the Slovenian Chamber Choir in 1991. Until autumn 2009, it was led by Mirko Cuderman, and for the seasons from 2009/10 to 2011/12 by conductors Martina Batič and Steffen Schreyer. In the 2012/13 season, Martina Batič took over the artistic direction in its entirety till the end of year 2017.
This 40-member choir, which has been part of the Slovenian Philharmonic since 1998, performs an average of 35 concerts each season, and as many different programmes. It focuses primarily on a cappella compositions from various musical periods, which feature especially in the Philharmonic’s Vocal Series, but it also collaborates with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as other Slovenian and foreign orchestras, in the performance of vocal-instrumental works.
The Slovenian Philharmonic Choir is frequently involved in recording projects. Its substantial discography numbers more than 80 compact discs in the collections Musica sacra Slovenica and Slovenska zborovska glasba, presenting an anthological selection of Slovenian choral music, both sacred and secular. In 2016, the Slovenian Philharmonic Choir was accepted as a member of the Tenso, the European network for professional chamber choir.

With a voice that is warm, wide-ranging and dark-hued, and commanding a repertoire that extends from the baroque to the present day, German-born soprano Sophie Klussman is in demand as a concert singer, as a recitalist and on the opera stage. In recent seasons her engagements have included a world tour of Mozart concert arias with Martin Haselböck and the Wiener Akademie, and performances and recordings of 20th century music with the Berlin’s Scharoun Ensemble, the pianist Oliver Triendl and a variety of other partners. Over her career to date she has collaborated with such conductors as Marek Janowski, Ingo Metzmacher, Helmuth Rilling, Michael Gielen, Michael Sanderling, Karl Heinz Steffens and, in the field of historically informed performance, Marcus Creed, Václav Luks and Attilio Cremonesi. Her career has taken her to such venues as the Berlin Philharmonie, Vienna Musikverein, Zurich Tonhalle, Amsterdam Muziekgebouw, Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, New York City Center and the Concert Hall of the National Grand Theatre Beijing.
Sophie Klussmann numbers Thomas Quasthoff, Dunja Vejzovic, Margreet Honig and Klesie Kelly-Moog among her mentors. From 2009 to 2011 she was a member of the Halle Opera, singing a variety of soprano role, and in Halle and at the Komische Oper Berlin she gave the world premieres of two operas by the composer Christian Jost. In 2013, at the Baden-Baden Easter Festival, she covered Anna Netrebko in the role of Donna Anna, while 2016 brought her debut as Micaëla (Carmen) in Wuhan, China. She also enjoyed a long-term international collaboration with American actor John Malkovich on the theatre pieces The Giacomo Variations and The Infernal Comedy. Sophie Klussmann is a keen interpreter of song and chamber repertoire and in 2015 her first solo CD, devoted to songs by Karl Weigl, was released on the Capriccio label.

Charlotte Quadt is a highly demanded opera singer. Amongst others she appeared at the Darmstadt State Theatre, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and at the opera houses of Hagen and Freiburg. Recently she had a great success as Bradamante in Händel’s Alcina at the Münster Opera and as Hänsel in Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel at the Landestheater Detmold. She has an especially close collaboration with the Bonn Opera where she regularly appears as a guest performer and participant in numerous productions. Starting in September 2018 she will sing in Bonn Der Trommler in a new production of Viktor Ullman’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis.
Besides opera, Charlotte Quadt is devoted to the concert repertoire, which a large range from baroque music to oratorios of the classic and romantic era. She has appeared in concerts with the Chorus Musicus Köln & Das Neue Orchester (Christoph Spering), with the Bavarian Philharmonic in Munich, the Darmstadt Concert Choir, the Basle and Essen Bach-choirs, the Gemischter Chor Zurich and the Brandenburg State Orchestra. Since 2014, she participates in the Bach Cantata Cycle” of the Kreuzkirche in Bonn. Upcoming projects include concerts at the Tonhalle Dusseldorf, the Cologne Philharmonie and at the Leipzig Bach Festival in a scenic production of Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion.

The Austrian tenor Thomas Paul began his musical education at the St. Florian boy’s choir. He continued at the Brucknerkonservatorium in Linz, at the University for Music in Vienna and the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Performances led him to many cities including Bochum, Baden-Baden and the Aix-en-Provence festival.
From 2008 to 2012 Thomas Paul was a member of the ensemble at the Tiroler Landestheater, where he sang Froh and Mime (Das Rheingold), Fenton (Falstaff), Adam (Der Vogelhändler), Tamino (Die Zauberflöte) and Marius (Les Miserables). He was then engaged at Volksoper Wien from 2012–2015, where he could be seen as Alfred (Die Fledermaus), Baron Kronthal (Der Wildschütz), Jaquino (Fidelio), Hans (Die verkaufte Braut) and as Alfredo (La Traviata).
Thomas Paul has also given many concerts at such venues as the Wiener Musikverein and the Brucknerhaus in Linz. From 2015 to 2017 Thomas Paul served as a member in the ensemble at Theater Erfurt and debuted there as Sou-Chong (Das Land des Lächelns), Don José (Carmen), Duca von Mantua (Rigoletto) and Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly). In the 2017/18 season he debuted as Matteo (Arabella), Lenski (Eugen Onegin) and Ismaele (Nabucco) at Theater Dortmund.

Since the 2007/08 Markus Eiche has been a member of the Vienna state opera and starting from 2012 he has a close relation to the Bavarian State Opera from Munich, too. At the Bayreuth Festival he sang Kothner in Die Meistersinger from 2007 - 2010. As a guest he has been invited to the Scala di Milano, the Nederlandse Opera Amsterdam, the Semperoper Dresden, Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, the Salzburg Festival, the Helsiniki Opera, etc. The Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona invited him for Conte Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Wolfram (Tannhäuser), Yeletzki (Queen of Spades), Ned Keene (Peter Grimes) and Fritz und Frank (Die tote Stadt). Markus Eiche shows his versatility also by singing many different concert works. His large repertoire includes the Bach Passions, Brahms Requiem, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Mendelssohn’s Elias and Paulus, Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, to Das Lied von der Erde, or Britten’s War Requiem. The artist also sings compositions by Aribert Reimann, Wolfgang Rihm, Luigi Dallapiccola or Judith Weirs. An intense collaboration exists between Markus Eiche and Helmuth Rilling and important radio companies (like SWR, NDR, BR, MDR or HR). He has released CDs on NAXOS (Schubert songs, Carmina Burana). Markus Eiche studied at the Music Academies of Stuttgart and Karlsruhe.

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