Thursday, 23 June 2016

Baltic Sea Landscapes - the Baltic Sea Philharmonic on tour

Kristjan Järvi & the Baltic Sea Philharmonic Orchestra - photo Peter Adamik
Kristjan Järvi & the Baltic Sea Philharmonic Orchestra - photo Peter Adamik
Kristjan Järvi's Baltic Sea Philharmonic Orchestra has arisen out of his creation of the Baltic Sea Youth Philharmonic in 2008 drawing on young players from all the nations round the Baltic Sea. The Baltic Sea Philharmonic is made up of current and former members of the youth orchestra, again with the idea of drawing together musicians from the ten countries (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden) around the Baltic, in an area which has historically been divided.

The new orchestra is intended to be very much the public showcase for the Baltic Sea Music Education Foundation; building on the musical education work done by the youth orchestra, the new orchestra is intended to act as an ambassador of good will in an area with diverse political backgrounds and continuing political tensions.
 
The Baltic Sea Philharmonic was launched earlier this year and in April made their Baltic Sea Landscapes tour, and in September 2016 the orchestra will be touring again. Their Baltic Sea Discovery tour travels through the the heart of the Baltic Sea region, in the sea port of Klaipeda (Lithuania, 15 September 2016), Kaliningrad (Russia, 16 September 2016), Gdansk (Poland, 18 September 2016), Copenhagen and Sønderborg (Denmark, 20 September 2016) and the final concert is at the opening of the 23rd Usedom Music Festival in Peenemünde (Germany, 24 September 2016).

The Latvian violinist Gidon Kremer and his Kremerata Baltica will be joining the orchestra with Kremerata Baltica players embedded in the Baltic Sea Philharmonic for the tour. Gidon Kremer will be performing the Violin Concerto by Mieczyslaw Weinberg, the composer who was born in Poland but ended up in Soviet Russia as a friend of Shostakovich. The concerto was written in the 1960's but has rarely been played since. The remainder of the programme for the tour takes the swan as its theme with Arvo Pärt's Swansong, and Kristjan Järvi's own suite from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake

In addition to music and education, the orchestra, and its parent organisation the Baltic Sea Music Education Foundation, both have the environment as a key theme. This is of interest to Kristjan Järvi personally, as well highlighting the importance of the Baltic Sea environment. The programme's theme of the swan is designed to link into to this.



The vision is to create an education hub for the entire Baltic Sea region, in the conviction that music knows no boundaries or limitations, whether of geography or musical genre. The Baltic Sea Music Education Foundation was founded both to run the Baltic Sea Youth Philharmonic and to lay the foundations for a future educational system for the entire Baltic Sea region and beyond.

Full information from the Baltic Sea Philharmonic's website.

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