The Dutch orchestra Metropole Orkest, one of the most famous pop and jazz orchestras in the world, together with the Serbian-Dutch band Balkanopolis led by Slobodan Trkulja, runner-up to Marija �erifović at last year's Serbian national final Beovizija, will open the final of this year's Eurovision Song Contest on 24th May in Belgrade.
The Metropole Orkestgave a concert with Slobodan and his Balkanopolis in the Sava Centre in Belgrade last November on the final evening of the European Council meeting, and Serbian national broadcaster RTS were so impressed that they invited their Dutch colleagues to performat the Eurovision Song Contest.
During the contest, they will present some of the same songs performed at the European Council meeting, and throughout the week they will hold concerts in Belgrade and Novi Sad, Trkulja's birthplace. They will perform a six-minute piece to open the contest.
Slobodan Trkulja graduated from the music academies in Amsterdam and Rotterdam and has received many awards for his workin whichhe combines traditional Serbian music with modern sounds.
The Metropole Orkest was formed in 1945 by conductor Dolf van der Linden, who conducted 13 Dutch Eurovision entries as well as the first Irish winning song All kinds of everything by Dana in 1970 and the entries of four other participating countries in 1958, next to the Dutch one.
Slobodan Trkulja came second at Beovizija 2007 with his song Nebo (Heaven).
