September 28 – September 30, 2018
In the large hall of Dom omladine Belgrade, in the period from September 28 to 30, the Belgrade Choir Festival – BEHOS 2018 was held. Although it is the first event in a row, the organizers, the City Choir of Belgrade and the Secretariat for Culture of the City of Belgrade, announced that the tendency is for this BEHOS to become the largest a capella festival in Eastern Europe. The festival opened with the performance of the Belgrade Philharmonic and the artistic work of the military orchestra “Stanislav Binički”, who performed the most popular movements of Beethoven’s 9th symphony “Ode to Joy”, then “Carmina Burana” by Carl Orff, Boyarka, and that with 350 associated singers and musicians on stage .
During the two days of the festival, the choir of the Radio Television of Serbia, led by maestro Bojan Sudjić, of the Collegium Musicum from the Music Academy of Arts, performed, while the celebrated New York Gospel Choir (HARLEM) performed in the revue part. This choir gained its recognition by performing with B.B. King, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Prince and other great artists. Also, as part of this year’s BEHOS festival, “St. Petersburg Male Choir” which is also the personal accompaniment of the Russian Patriarch Kirill at spiritual ceremonies, as well as the Bulgarian National Ensemble “Filip Koutev” led by the virtuoso Teodosi Spasov (kaval). The festival also has a competition program in which the most prominent choirs from the region will participate. It is interesting that BEHOS 2018 will also have a humanitarian character, so a larger part of the income from the tickets from the concerts of revue performers will be donated to children from the “Svratiste” center, but also to talented students of lower and secondary music schools who do not have the conditions and funds to buy a quality instrument. In the role of general sponsor of the first BEHOS 2018 festival, this year is the Saša Marcheta Foundation.
