A Magnificent New Year’s Opera Gala Concert Held on the Main Stage

The traditional New Year’s Gala Concert of the Opera ensemble of the National Theatre in Belgrade was held on 13 January on the Main Stage, in a magnificent atmosphere and before a sold-out audience, as a true celebration of operatic art.

During a lavish musical journey through the world of opera and orchestral music that lasted several hours, the repertoire featured masterpieces by Russian classics Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov, renowned Italian composers Verdi, Donizetti, and Puccini, gems of Austrian and French operetta, as well as significant works by Serbian composers Kornelije Stanković, Stanislav Binički, Stevan Hristić, and Petar Konjović, turning that winter evening into a genuine New Year’s musical spectacle.

Accompanied by the Orchestra and Choir of the National Theatre, under the baton of conductor Aleksandar Kojić, the performers included principal opera artists Snežana Savičić Sekulić, Sonja Šarić Kosovac, Vesna Đurković, and Dragutin Matić; soloists Siniša Radin and Luka Jozić; and members of the “Borislav Popović” Opera Studio, Anđela Simić and Katarina Katanić.

As guest artists, the evening was further enriched by the participation of soloists from Romania and Bulgaria, Orsolya Veress and Ivan Momirov.

The concert was directed by Mario Pavle del Monaco, while the stage design was created by Jasna Saramandić.

During the intermission, in the foyer of the Second Gallery, students of the “Borislav Popović” Opera Studio - Vera Zečević, Danijela Popović Kondić, Isidora Bogdanović, Milica Strahinić, and Teodora Ilić - performed a carefully selected program of solo songs by Serbian composers, accompanied on the piano by Natalija Mijailović.

The finale of this New Year’s spectacle was reserved for the famous Serbian march - March on the Drina by Stanislav Binički.