Serbia’s capital Belgrade has slightly changed its tune when it comes to celebrating the New Year. Instead of ringing in just one new year, it has now taken to honouring several. Between September 2011 and January 2012, the Jewish, Islamic, Catholic, Orthodox and Chinese New Year were all marked by the Belgrade Philharmonic with a special concert highlighting the rich contribution made to society by each of these great cultures. The New Years’ Concerts programme is now a permanent feature of the Belgrade Philharmonic’s repertoire.
The initiative kicked off in June 2011 as part of an eight-month project launched by the European Union’s Support to Civil Society Programme, We Understand Each Other, in conjunction with the Belgrade Philharmonic. Just as the title of the project suggests, the underlying idea behind the creation of a New Years’ Concerts programme was to encourage greater understanding and appreciation of the positive aspects of cultural diversity within the Serbian community.
As has been well documented, Serbia has been no stranger in the past to conflicts arising from religious and ethnic divisions. The project sought to illustrate through the universal nature of music that whatever customs or creeds a person may adhere to, everybody’s hope for a joyous new beginning is the same.
The project conveyed the message of ‘United in diversity’ – itself the motto of the European Union – through five classical concerts that brought together musicians, public figures and ethnic and religious community leaders under one concert hall roof. Over the course of the concerts, audiences were treated to music from Gershwin to Glinka, via suites from Maurice Jarre’s ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ and Carl Nielsen’s ‘Aladdin’. The events were not only well-attended but also greatly anticipated.
“I am looking forward to the Orchestra’s concert for Rosh Hashanah. The fact that this idea, to perform concerts to celebrate new years of different traditions, was born and implemented here in Belgrade makes me a proud Belgrader,” said Serbia’s Chief Rabbi, Mr Isak Asiel.
The concerts also formed the subject of a ‘behind the scenes’ documentary film that was aired on national television and a taster of the Jewish New Year’s concert held in September 2011 can be viewed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc1ACXkANTI.
Reducing social distances
The EU contributed half of the overall project budget of over €190,000 as part of its aim to promote participation of civil society in the process of Serbia’s EU integration. In the future, it is hoped the New Years’ concerts will form a joyous way of reducing the still substantial social distances between various religious and ethnic communities, social groups and subcultures that exist in Serbia. In the words of the first president of the Commission of the European Economic Community (now the European Commission), Walter Hallstein: “Europe is diversity. We want to preserve the wealth and the difference of characters, of talents, of beliefs, of habits, of customs, of taste.”
More information
Project: We Understand Each Other (Support to Civil Society Programme)
Implemented by: Support to Civil Society Programme – www.civilnodrustvo.rs
Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra – www.bgf.rs
