OPENING PROGRAM OF THE FESTIVAL

The Adventures of the Flying Guitar is an interactive musical program in which children are not merely the audience, they are active participants. Through new songs for children, but also well-known hits such as "Dinosaurus" (Dinosaur), "Bubamarac" (Ladybug), "Bljak" (Yuck), and the indispensable children's standards, the children join in the play, the singing, and the conversation completely freely and with inspiration. This concert is an encounter with new songs that are only now being created and with those that are only now becoming hits, songs that grow together with new generations. In a natural and joyful way, children discover how wonderful it is to know and to be able, and how even more wonderful it is to show what and how much you know.

About the author

Branimir Bane Rosić is a composer, performer, TV author, and host, and a devoted friend of children. For more than 20 years, Bane has been creating work for children and young people in a unique and recognizable way. Audiences know him through the cult shows "Hajde sa mnom u obdanište" (Come with Me to Kindergarten) and "Avanture Banetove Leteće Gitare" (The Adventures of Bane's Flying Guitar), which air continuously on RTV Vojvodina.

He is the author and performer of his own compositions, as well as of songs by the most eminent poets for children. Although he works in a variety of creative forms, he is most recognized as one of the most significant contemporary creators for children.

Generations of children grow up, learn, and rejoice with the programs he creates, the music he composes, and the songs he lovingly sings to the youngest. With his voice, his music, and his energy, he connects all generations, from the youngest to adults. He has received numerous important awards in the field of creative work for children.

OPENING THE FESTIVAL:

Aleksandar Gutić

Aleksandar Gutić was born on October 17, 2001, in Novi Sad, and grew up in Bačka Palanka. He graduated from the Faculty of Music in the conducting department, in the class of maestro Bojan Suđić. During his studies he performed with the RTS Symphony Orchestra and, within a masterclass with maestro Mikhail Sinkevich, with the orchestra of the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad. As a participant of the Pehlivanian Opera Academy, he conducted performances of Verdi's La traviata and Puccini's La bohème with the Slovenian Festival Orchestra.

Since the fall of 2023 he has been a member of the Opera Studio of the National Theatre in Belgrade, where he has worked as a répétiteur on productions from the current repertoire and as a conductor of stage music. He conducted the children's opera "Snežana i sedam patuljaka" (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) by Dragan Karolić, and appeared as stage conductor at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb in a performance of Simon Boccanegra. In January 2025 he made his debut with the Opera of the National Theatre in Rossini's The Barber of Seville, followed in May 2025 by Mozart's Così fan tutte and, with the RTS Symphony Orchestra, the suite from Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty.

He grew up with FEP and served as president of the children's jury for several years.

THE BICYCLE PARADE

Traditionally, FEP begins in motion. A bicycle parade through Bačka Palanka marks the festive opening of the Festival and invites everyone to join in. Under the slogan "Playbreak yourself!", as we move together through the town, we invite children and young people not to watch the Festival from the sidelines, but to take an active part in it. That is why we invite children to express their creativity and to come up with, design, and draw or make their own little birds. In the spirit of the festival, we suggest using materials that can be recycled or returned to nature. Bring your little bird along, so it can be with you in the parade, and in the end it will become part of a collective exhibition that will run until the end of FEP, in the courtyard of the Hungarian House.

The bicycle parade sets off at 6 pm, from the Plato in front of Erste Bank and ends in the courtyard of the Hungarian House, marking the beginning of the opening ceremony program.