Goran Bregović & His Wedding and Funeral Orchestra

Sunday, October 16, 2011 | 8:00 pm

Page Auditorium

“Bregović is both the catalyst and ringmaster for a musical spectacle unlike anything else on North American stages.” (San Francisco Chronicle)

A flamboyant pan-Balkan bandleader and composer mounts a colossal concert in Page Auditorium. In a four-decade career that has weathered war in Yugoslavia and exile in Paris, Goran Bregović has become legendary for his spirited performances and evocative film scores — particularly Emir Kusturica’s Time of the Gypsies and Underground. Bregović with his enormous Wedding and Funeral Orchestra also owns the unlikely distinction of having once sparked a rambunctious dance party in the Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall. With Bregović and his core ensemble flanked by a Bulgarian choir and a Gypsy brass band, the music is as large-hearted and miscellaneous as the Balkans themselves. The raptures of dancing and mourning combine in this exclusive Southeastern concert from the icon that indie-pop star Beirut dubbed his favorite musician ever.