ABBA's hits with the Zagreb Philharmonic at Lisinski on September 29 - Golden Age Symphony with four soloists

ABBA's biggest hits in symphonic arrangement are performed on September 29 at the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall in Zagreb, under the name Golden Age Symphony. Doors at 20:00.

The Zagreb Philharmonic plays under the baton of Alan Bjelinski, with vocals carried by Damir Kedžo, Sven Pocrnić, Ža Ža and Franka Batelić. That is a line-up of four soloists and a full symphony orchestra, rather than the usual tribute band of five people on stage.

ABBA remains one of the most successful and best-loved musical stories there is, and the authors of the music and lyrics, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Stig Anderson, are credited on the evening's programme itself. Symphonic arrangements of pop repertoire easily end up as kitsch, but the difference here is that ABBA's material was written with arrangement layers an orchestra actually has something to play - the harmonic solutions of Ulvaeus and Andersson were always closer to classical composition than to the standard pop of the seventies.

Lisinski is Zagreb's main concert hall. Tickets are via entrio.hr.