58th BEMUS in Belgrade from October 17 to 30 - Arcadi Volodos, Daniel Lozakovich and the Sofia and Thessaloniki philharmonics at the Kolarac Endowment

The 58th Belgrade Music Festival (BEMUS) runs from October 17 to 30 under the motto "Muzika iznad vremena" ("Music Beyond Time"), and the concerts currently on sale are at the Kolarac Endowment. The opening on October 17 at 20:00 is a gala of stars from the Russian opera scene, with soloists from the Mariinsky and Bolshoi theatres and the RTS Symphony Orchestra and Choir, conducted by Dušan Vilić.

The festival's biggest name is Arcadi Volodos, the pianist born in Leningrad in 1972 who records for Sony Classical, holds four Gramophone awards and two Grammy nominations, and was once called by a critic the grandest living classical pianist. He plays on October 28. On October 19 Swedish violinist Daniel Lozakovich takes the stage - he signed with Deutsche Grammophon in 2016 at the age of 15 and played at the reopening ceremony of Notre-Dame. Pianist David Fray joins him on stage.

The rest of the programme: October 18 the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra, October 20 the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra from Budapest, October 21 the Korda Piano Trio, October 24 the Sofia Philharmonic with conductor Nayden Todorov, October 26 the Niš Symphony Orchestra, October 29 the golden jubilee of the Collegium Musicum academic choir, and on October 30 the Belgrade Philharmonic closes the festival. Thessaloniki, Sofia, Budapest and Niš on one stage in two weeks - the programme reads like a map of the neighbourhood, just without the border crossings.

Tickets are on sale at tickets.rs and range from 900 to 5,000 dinars (about 474 to 2,632 denars). The opening and the Volodos recital are the most expensive, at 2,700 to 5,000 dinars, while the Korda trio and the Collegium Musicum choir nights are the cheapest, from 900 dinars. All concerts start at 20:00.