Baltic Sea Philharmonic

Baltic Folk Tour 2017

WelcomeWe are delighted to welcome you to ‘Baltic Folk’, our second tour of 2017. On this tour of Sweden, Germany and Italy, we bring you music from Russia and Estonia. The beauty of great music, like the greatest legends, stories and folktales, lies in its universality. It speaks from the heart to all of us, no matter which country we are from. The masterpieces by Stravinsky and Rachmaninoff that you will hear tonight are Russian to the core, but everyone can relate to their themes and emotions – from the tale of love, magic and transformation that inspired Stravinsky’s The Firebird, to the melancholy and passionate drama of Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto. Similarly, you do not have to share the religious convictions of Arvo Pärt, the third composer in our ‘Baltic Folk’ programme, to be deeply affected by his emotionally profound music.

As an orchestra of musicians from the ten nations of the Baltic Sea region, bringing people together is in our nature. And the universal music we play means we can connect more strongly with each other, and with you, our audience. The folk-influenced music in our concerts certainly speaks to us from the heart, and we hope our performance will touch you just as deeply.

Our spark

We fire up imaginations throughinspirational performancesCome with us on a musical adventure through a world of magic, passion and spirituality

Our impulse

We challenge ideas of what anorchestra should beDiscover Kristjan Järvi‘s vision for the Baltic Sea Philharmonic, and meet our musicians and soloist

Our strength

We stand for unity in a historically divided regionFollow our journey from pioneeringyouth orchestra to international movement for solidarity

Our flow

We connect people to the environment, and to each otherExplore our 2017 ‘Waterworks’ tour, which is inspired by water‘s power to connect communities across the world

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Nostalgia, longing, a yearning for warmth and light, for rebirth and transformation – these are the emotional currents of ‘Baltic Folk’

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Fires from the east

For this ‘Baltic Folk’ tour, we look to the east of the Baltic Sea region, to Estonia, and especially to Russia. In Stravinsky’s folktale-inspired The Firebird and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, we present two of the best-loved orchestral works of the early 20th century, both of which reveal their Russian essence in contrasting ways. In the ballet that launched his international career as a composer, Stravinsky dazzles us with brilliant colours, the vitality of Russian folk music, and the magic of the mythical Firebird. And in one of the most romantic piano concertos ever written, Rachmaninoff bares his soul in dramatic music rich in Slavic melancholy.

We begin our ‘Baltic Folk’ programme in the altogether different sound world of Arvo Pärt, the celebrated Estonian composer whose music is both deeply spiritual and emotionally direct. His contemplative, hymn-like Swansong is an orchestration of an earlier choral composition, ‘Littlemore Tractus’, in which Pärt set words from a sermon that the influential theologian John Henry Newman preached in 1843 in the English village of Littlemore.

Kristjan Järvi, Founding Conductor and Music Director of the Baltic Sea Philharmonic, likens the music of Swansong to a village waltz: ‘Sometimes this waltz is slightly bitter, at other times nostalgic, but in the end it turns into something very hopeful, in its yearning for warmth and light.’ For Kristjan, this sense of longing and transformation is paralleled, in music of an altogether more epic and exotic style, in The Firebird.

The Baltic Sea Philharmonic performs The Firebird in its 1945 orchestral suite version, and makes a daring shift from convention by playing the work entirely from memory. Kristjan sees this approach as an evolution in how musicians express themselves as artists. ‘Performing The Firebird from

Discover a sparkling world of legend, drama and passion on our Russian-focused musical adventure

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memory is all about chemistry and communication,’ he says. ‘It should feel like the players are improvising music that they have known for a long time.’

Joining the orchestra to perform Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto, a work that Kristjan calls ‘the most nostalgic, the most Russian-themed concerto ever’, is the 15-year-old Russian pianist Alexander Malofeev, one of the most exciting talents of his generation. Kristjan says of his new collaborator: ‘Alexander is already a rising star in Russia and has been acclaimed by some of the country’s greatest musicians. I am pleased that we can introduce him to a wider international audience.’

‘Baltic Folk’ takes the orchestra to three countries: Sweden, Germany and Italy. Visby, on the beautiful Swedish island of Gotland, is a special place for us, and

the perfect location for our first concert. The Baltic Sea Philharmonic has always been sensitive to the environment, and on Gotland, with its picturesque beaches, lakes and rocky outcrops, it’s impossible not to feel deeply connected to nature. A UNESCO World Heritage site, Visby is one of the best-preserved medieval cities in northern Europe. It’s also where the idea for the Baltic Sea Youth Philharmonic was born ten years ago in a concert of a project orchestra called the Baltic Youth Orchestra. So Visby is part of our history too.

In Germany we make a return visit to Wiesbaden to perform in the prestigious Rheingau Music Festival. And our tour ends in Merano, northern Italy, where we have the honour of opening the Merano Music Festival. We’re delighted that these two festivals are welcoming us back after our previous appearances, at Wiesbaden in 2014, and Merano in 2011.

As we return to familiar places and festivals, we look forward to seeing old friends and making many new ones, and to transporting you all across the Baltic with our folk-inspired music from the east.

‘Performing The Firebird from memory is all about chemistry and communication’

August 2017

19 August 2017, 7.00 pmVisby (Congress Hall Wisby Strand,Island of Gotland), Sweden

20 August 2017, 7.00 pmRheingau Music Festival,Wiesbaden (Kursaal),Germany

23 August 2017, 8.30 pmMerano Music Festival,Merano (Kursaal),Italy

Baltic Sea PhilharmonicKristjan Järvi Alexander Malofeev

Arvo Pärt (1935)Swansong (Littlemore Tractus) for orchestra

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 – 1943)Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor Op. 18

Igor Stravinsky (1882 – 1971)The Firebird (1945)

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Baltic Folk Tour

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The ‘Baltic Folk’ programme focuses on Russia, which established a gateway to the Baltic Sea in 1703 when Tsar Peter the Great founded the port city of St. Petersburg. From that point on, the influence of Europe on the tsar’s court grew continuously and trade with the neighbouring states thrived. However, there were also repeated military conflicts. Both Russian composers on the programme – Sergei Rachmaninoff and Igor Stravinsky – left their homeland after the socialist revolutions in the early 20th century, before later emigrating to the United States, where they became renowned musicians.

‘Baltic Folk’ begins, however, with the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, who was a musical individualist even during his education at the conservatory in Tallinn. After an early avant-garde compositional phase, his study of medieval music and religion later led to a peaceful and tonal language. In 1980 Pärt emigrated to Vienna and then Berlin, quickly becoming a cult musical figure. He only returned to his homeland in 2008. The orchestral piece Swansong, which was premiered in 2014 by the Vienna Philharmonic, is based on Pärt’s earlier choral composition ‘Littlemore Tractus’, a setting of a text by Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801 – 1890). Newman was a highly influential figure in England as a theologian, poet and philosopher. Swansong is therefore a hymnal, contemplative piece.

The failure of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s First Symphony in 1897 cast the Russian composer into deep depression, and the 24-year-old composed almost nothing for the next three years. Only after being treated by the psychotherapist and hypnotist Nikolai Dahl did Rachmaninoff’s confidence return. Thus the composer dedicated his next great work, his Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, to his doctor. Rachmaninoff initially presented only two movements, the second and the third, at a benefit concert in December 1900. The positive reviews strengthened his resolve to write the famous first movement, with its immediately captivating, balladesque character. This movement’s melancholic strings melody, which is inserted into the ascending chimes of the opening piano chords, became synonymous with Slavic noir. The soloist in the concerto often plays the accompanying figures, and the piano part is completely interwoven with the orchestra, giving the composition a highly organic character. Despite the enormous technical demands, it is hardly a purely virtuoso piece.

Rachmaninoff himself played the piano part at the Moscow premiere of the concerto on 27 October 1901. The piece became his

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Listening GuideWith Rachmaninoff’s melancholic melodies and Stravinsky’s fiery colours, our programme is full of fascinating contrasts

The audience at The Firebird premiere was electrified by the orchestral splendour

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calling card and was a triumph wherever it was performed around the world, and remains popular to this day. The intensity of the elegiac, dark music, the sparks of inspiration and the imaginative, dreamy character are fascinating.

Igor Stravinsky was amused by the way the Russian melancholy of Rachmaninoff was fashionably exploited. He had a completely different vision of the archaic vitality of his homeland, which he left forever in 1914, initially moving to Switzerland and then to France in 1920. Back in 1909, at the age of 27, he had composed the ballet The Firebird. The impresario Sergei Diaghilev had commissioned it for his innovative dance group Ballets Russes, thereby placing great faith in the young composer. He was proved right, as the ballet based on old Russian fairytales, which was premiered in 1910 in Paris, was an enormous success. The audience was electrified by the

orchestral splendour. The Russian ballerina Tamara Karsavina, the Russian dancer and choreographer Michel Fokine and the stage set depicting the enchanted garden where golden apples grow on trees were particularly impressive.

The concert hall gained access to the music in the form of three orchestral suites that were produced later on, of which the Baltic Sea Philharmonic has chosen the last version from 1945. It is a piece the players know so well that they perform it without sheet music. The musical contrasts in the suite are enormous, especially between the dazzling ‘Infernal dance’ of the evil magician Kashchey and the withdrawn ‘Berceuse’ or lullaby. Naturally, the young prince wins the hand of his beloved princess by the end of the story. He is aided by the good, yet secretive Firebird. It is truly magical music that builds up to an enormous crescendo of archaic force in the Finale.

‘We have to ask ourselves what orchestras are here for. It must be to create, uplift, inspire and innovate’ Kristjan Järvi

our impulse

our impulse

Shaping a revolutionKristjan Järvi wants to redefine what it means to be an orchestra. Daring to be different is in his nature

Creative freedom, risk-taking and innovation are at the heart of Kristjan Järvi’s work with the Baltic Sea Philharmonic. He is a musician who thrives on pushing boundaries and challenging established ideas about the role of an orchestra. ‘We are building a new orchestral model,’ he says. ‘Too many orchestras today are focused on economic survival, with musicians reduced to factory-like productivity at the expense of creativity. But creativity is absolutely essential for any form of society to thrive, not just survive. As orchestras are microcosms of society, we have to ask ourselves what we are here for. It must be to create, uplift, inspire and innovate. And you cannot have innovation without taking risks.’

Kristjan’s mission to empower both players and audiences has never wavered in nearly ten years as the Baltic Sea Philharmonic’s Music Director, yet the entrepreneurial drive and leadership needed to make it happen have been with him far longer. In 1993, as a 21-year-old graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, he founded the Absolute Ensemble, a band that brings together jazz, hip-hop, electroacoustic, classical and other musical styles. This boundary-busting group has created its own distinctive sound, and the band’s evolution has

been driven not only by Kristjan’s omnivorous musical tastes, but also by his encouragement of the group’s members to improvise, arrange and compose.

The collective energy of the Absolute Ensemble carries through to the Baltic Sea Philharmonic, where Kristjan sees himself as part of the orchestra, and not an archetypal leader. ‘I don’t want to lead from outside and say “Follow me,”’ he says. ‘I’m someone who makes music with them, and it just happens to be my job to stand in front of them.’

For Kristjan, everybody in the Baltic Sea Philharmonic has an equal presence and importance. Instilling a feeling of true equality is liberating for the players, he says, and encourages an entrepreneurial spirit, the feeling that anything is possible. ‘I’m not preaching to them, but gently raising their consciousness. The brilliance of music is that it’s not like religion or politics, where you have to tell people what to believe and what to do. Whether as performers or members of the audience, music is something that flips a switch in all of us.’

‘You cannot have innovation without taking risks’

Biography:Kristjan has ‘earned a reputation as one of the canniest, and most innovative, programmers on the classical scene.’ [Reuters]

He realises his pioneering ideas with his four ensembles: as Music Director of the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Gstaad Festival Orchestra, as Founder-Conductor of his New York-based classical-hip-hop-jazz group Absolute Ensemble, and as Founding Conductor and Music Director of the Baltic Sea Philharmonic. An entrepreneur by nature and a passionate producer, Kristjan runs his own production company, Sunbeam Productions, creating new experiences that combine music, visual art, lighting design and technology with innovative concepts, to take audiences on a unique journey.

In 2016 Kristjan became an official member of the Estonian Olympic committee, marking the first time this position was not filled by a sportsperson or government official. His initiative ‘Sound Estonia’ aims to promote the connection between, and importance of, a healthy body and mind.

As a recording artist Kristjan has more than 60 albums to his credit, from Hollywood soundtracks such as ‘Cloud Atlas’ and award-winning albums on Sony Classical and Chandos, to his eponymous series: the Kristjan Järvi Sound Project. Launched in 2014, the series features projects across all of his ensembles and is characterised by his unmistakable approach of taking a fresh look at the old.

Kristjan continues to work with some of today’s brightest creative minds, from film directors Tom Tykwer and the Wachowskis, to composers and artists Arvo Pärt, Steve Reich, Tan Dun, Hauschka and Esa-Pekka Salonen, with whom he started his career as Assistant Conductor at the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Born in Estonia, Kristjan emigrated to the United States as a child and grew up in New York City. He is an accomplished pianist and graduated from the Manhattan School of Music before studying conducting at the University of Michigan.

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For a performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, one of the most Russian of all concertos, the choice of a Russian soloist makes perfect sense, and there can be few Russian pianists who have shown as much promise at such a young age as Alexander Malofeev. At just 15 years old, Moscow-born Alexander already has a glittering record of achievement as a soloist. A multiple prize winner at international competitions, he has performed with Russia’s leading orchestras under conductors such as Valery Gergiev and Vladimir Spivakov, and has played at prestigious venues around the world, from La Scala, Milan, to the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing.

International stardom may soon beckon, but Alexander is not about to get ahead of himself. The level-headed teenager believes he still has much to learn. ‘I try not to think what I’ve achieved,’ he says. ‘I still want to continue my studies at the Gnessin School of Music in Moscow, where my teacher Elena Beryozkina and I have a lot of creative plans. I certainly want to collaborate with different orchestras and conductors, but I know that I have to study hard in order to achieve my goal.’

Alexander is already a seasoned touring artist, but ‘Baltic Folk’ is his first ever visit to Sweden, and he is excited about performing with young musicians from across the Nordic region. ‘It must be breathtaking to be in the middle of such

a cultural mix,’ he says. ‘The Baltic Sea Philharmonic players’ youthfulness should help us collaborate more easily. I hope it will be a good creative union.’

Alexander has strong feelings about the concerto he’ll be performing. ‘Rachmaninoff is one of my favourite composers and the Second Piano Concerto expresses his Russian soul,’ he says. ‘Performing it is easy and hard at the same time: easy, because I’ve been dreaming of playing this music for a long time, and hard in the sense that it’s one of the most frequently performed concertos, so it can seem impossible to express something new in a performance. Above all, I will strive to express the universality of the music, and do that sincerely and artistically, while conveying the composer’s conception as closely as possible.’

Biography:Alexander Malofeev was born in Moscow in 2001. He is a student at the Gnessin Middle Special School of Music in Moscow, where his teacher is Elena Beryozkina.

In 2014 he won first prize and the Gold Medal at the International Tchaikovsky Youth Competition in Moscow. In 2016 he took the Grand Prix at the International Grand Piano Competition for young pianists in Moscow. He is also a prize winner at

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Feted in Russia by Valery Gergiev and Vladimir Spivakov, Alexander Malofeev is a shining young piano talent

Boy wonder

‘I’ve been dreaming of playing this music for a long time’

numerous other international competitions, among them the Vladimir Krainev Moscow International Piano Competition (2015), the Youth Delphic Games of Russia (Gold Medal, 2012 and 2015) and the International Rachmaninoff Young Pianists’ Competition in Novgorod (Grand Prix and special prize for the best performance of works by Bach, 2014).

Alexander has appeared at such prestigious concert venues as the Bolshoi Theatre, the Great, Small and Rachmaninoff Halls of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatoire, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall and the Rachmaninoff Concert Hall of the Moscow State Philharmonic, the Galina Vishnevskaya Opera Centre, the Mariinsky Theatre, the Kaufman Music Center in New York, and the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. He has toured to Azerbaijan, Finland, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Spain, Portugal, China, Japan, Australia and the United States.

As a soloist Alexander has collaborated with orchestras including the Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev, the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra under Kazuki Yamada, the Russian National Philharmonic Orchestra under both Vladimir Spivakov and Dmitry Liss, the ‘Moscow Virtuosi’ State Chamber Orchestra under Vladimir Spivakov, and the ‘New Russia’ State Symphony Orchestra under Yuri Tkachenko.

Alexander has participated in numerous festivals, including Stars of the White Nights, the International Piano Festival at the Mariinsky Theatre, the Chopin Festival in Paris, the International Mstislav Rostropovich Festival in Moscow, and festivals in La Roque d’Anthéron, Mikkeli, Sintra and Annecy.

In July 2016 the Master Performers label released Alexander’s debut DVD, recorded at the Queensland Conservatorium Theatre in Brisbane, Australia.

Alexander holds scholarships from the Vladimir Spivakov Charity Foundation, the ‘New Names’ Charity Foundation and the Mstislav Rostropovich Foundation.

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Our musiciansViolinVida Bobin-Sokołowska (Poland)Tatiana Dvortsova (Russia)Thomas Ellervee (Estonia)Ilze Gagaine (Latvia)Leila Hairova (Latvia)Dita Immermane (Latvia)Kseniia Ivakina (Russia)Augusta Jusionytė (Lithuania)*Yuliya Kazimirovich (Poland)Malwina Kulisiewicz (Poland)Kerstin Kullerkupp (Estonia)Tatiana Kuvaitceva (Russia)Marzena Malinowska (Poland)Jan Mleczko (Poland)Ada Schwengebecher (Germany)Kinga Streszewska (Poland)Anna Trukhina (Russia)Mari-Liis Urb (Estonia)Anna Wałek (Poland)Laura Zimka (Latvia)

ViolaNils Biesewig (Germany)Aleksandr Dubitsa (Estonia)Anastasiia Goriacheva (Russia)Viktoria Orlova (Russia)Marina Paccagnan (Germany)Maximilian Procop (Germany)Pedro Vásquez Ordenes (Finland)Agnieszka Żyniewicz (Poland)

CelloRūta Balčiūtė (Lithuania)Lydia Eriksson (Finland)Zuzanna Filipek (Poland)Tarmo Hiis (Estonia)Marius Malanetchi (Germany)Armas Riives (Estonia)

Double BassAlexandra Dzyubenko (Russia)Miranda Erlich (Finland)Eduard Gadea Salom (Sweden)Hanna Jürgenson (Estonia)Miłosz Madejski (Poland)

FluteKristīne Beitika (Latvia)Teimurazi Kharshiladze (Germany)

OboeHannah Baumann (Germany)Freya Obijon (Germany)Annika Oser (Germany)

ClarinetAlexey Mikhaylenko (Russia)*Kristjan Parts (Estonia)Fátima Trives Escolano (Denmark)

BassoonJakob Peäske (Estonia)Arseniy Shkaptsov (Russia)*

French HornCésar Cabañero Martínez (Germany)Victor Cosío Lanza (Germany)Mikus Runka (Latvia)Grigory Yakubovich (Russia)

TrumpetMärt Metsla (Estonia)José Ángel Toscano Fernández (Germany)

TromboneNiklas Joelsen (Norway)Jüri Leek (Estonia)Ingvar Leerimaa (Estonia)

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TubaLudwig Angerhöfer (Germany)

HarpLisa De Bruycker (Germany)

PianoGabriele Bekeryte (Lithuania)

PercussionDenis Iakovlev (Russia)Mathias Matland (Norway)Pablo Reyes Resina (Germany)Alberto Rodriguez Rodriguez (Germany)

*Principals

Team Baltic Sea Music Education Foundation Thomas Hummel (Executive Director) Jutta Loosen (Communications Director) Rita Sosedow (Production Manager)Danielle Griffin (Music Librarian)Katharina Blum (Project Assistant) Ulrike Schrader (Project Assistant)Katharina Wickel (Project Assistant)Alexander Datz (Press Officer) Peter Somerford (Editor)Peter Adamik (Photographer)Oliver Kietzmann (Assistant to Executive Director) Thomas Hesse (Stage Manager)Andriy Lukyanets (Stage Manager)

our strengthWe’re creating a movement that brings people together from Norway to Russia. The stronger we all are, the stronger we are as a region

Unity of purposeThe Baltic Sea Philharmonic has become a movement for bringing people together across the Nordic region

our strength

The Baltic Sea Philharmonic is a unique gathering of the most talented musicians from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia and Sweden. Every player has a connection to their homeland’s musical traditions, both classical and folk, and when these connections come together in the orchestra, it enriches the musical experience of every musician, and gives the orchestra a unique collective strength.

Connectedness is the defining philosophy behind the Baltic Sea Philharmonic, in its mission to unite both musicians and communities, and reconnect them with the environment. As Kristjan Järvi says: ‘We’re creating a movement that brings people together from Norway to Russia. The stronger we all are, the stronger we are as a region. Then we can set an example for the whole world.’

For nearly ten years the Baltic Sea Philharmonic has been a beacon for unity in a historically divided region. Its story began in 2008 on the island of Usedom, off the northern edge of Germany. Thomas Hummel, the Director of the Usedom Music Festival, wanted to create a multinational orchestra, and took the idea to Nord Stream AG, operator of the natural gas pipelines through the Baltic Sea. His proposal: what better way to reflect the cooperation between Baltic Sea nations than by bringing together the best young musicians from the ten countries surrounding the Baltic Sea.

‘Right from the first concert of the newly inaugurated Baltic Sea Youth Philharmonic, in Riga in 2008, it was clear that here was an orchestra with a powerful message’, says Thomas. Audiences felt it immediately, and politicians recognised its importance too. As the orchestra’s reputation spread, it began regular tours, and was soon playing at the most prestigious concert halls and festivals in Europe, and performing with the world’s finest soloists. In 2012 and 2013 Kurt Masur conducted the orchestra at the Usedom Music Festival. Also in 2012, the Baltic Sea Youth Philharmonic performed at the Summit of the Council of the Baltic Sea States in Stralsund, on the invitation of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who praised the orchestra as ‘a compelling example of using music as a powerful medium for cooperation and integration across borders’. In 2015 its achievements were honoured with the prestigious European Culture Prize by the European Culture Foundation ‘Pro Europe’.

In 2016 the orchestra’s growing desire to connect people across the world and to make them reconnect with the environment led to a new phase of international touring and collaboration. Renamed the Baltic Sea Philharmonic, the orchestra performed in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Russia in April, on its ‘Baltic Sea Landscapes’ tour with pianist Alexander Toradze. The ‘Baltic Sea Discovery’ tour of Lithuania, Russia, Poland, Denmark and Germany in September featured

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communication, between each other, and with the audience, should be completely free-flowing and unhindered, so that everyone in the concert hall has the feeling that anything is possible.’

That the musicians are ready to take this next step is thanks to the dedicated work that Kristjan and his team of international coaches have done to develop the players’ professional skills and expand their musical horizons. Training and education have always been at the heart of the Baltic Sea Philharmonic mission, and the intensive camps that take place before each tour are the biggest, but by no means the only, part of this effort. The creation in 2013 of the Baltic Sea Music Education Foundation strengthened a burgeoning education programme, which included chamber music coaching as well as workshops for young conductors and composers.

Underpinning the ambitions of the Foundation is the knowledge that today’s young generation will be the musicians and educators to inspire the next generation. Nowhere is this more evident than with the continuing cooperation with Danish Radio’s groundbreaking ‘Into the Music’ project, which in 2015 began presenting symphonic concerts for thousands of schoolchildren from rural Denmark, many of whom are growing up far from concert halls. In 2016 the Baltic Sea Philharmonic played to 6,000 schoolchildren in a series of concerts in Sønderborg. Leif Lønsmann, from Danish Radio, says of that collaboration: ‘The concerts were a huge hit with the pupils, who were deeply impressed by the enthusiasm of the musicians and Kristjan’s charisma. The fact that many of the musicians were only slightly older than their audience made it easier for the schoolchildren to connect with the music.’

collaborations with Gidon Kremer and the Kremerata Baltica. In the same month, Sony Classical released the orchestra’s recording of Wagner’s Ring Cycle. As the year ended, the Baltic Sea Philharmonic debuted a groundbreaking fusion of music, lighting design and projection art at a Christmas concert in Vienna’s Konzerthaus.

In Kristjan’s eyes, 2016 was a time of transition, with the orchestra establishing a new identity and developing its vision of a unique form of performance presentation. Now in 2017, with its ‘Baltic Folk’ and ‘Waterworks’ tours, the Baltic Sea Philharmonic is starting a whole new adventure. The ‘Waterworks’ tour, which began in May with concerts in Germany and Denmark and continues in August with four more performances in Germany, reimagines the concert experience on a level beyond what was pioneered in Vienna, transforming the performance into a full-scale immersive spectacle. And with ‘Baltic Folk’, the orchestra’s commitment to performing Stravinsky’s The Firebird from memory shows once again that here is an ensemble that fearlessly embraces bold new paths of communication.

Kristjan summed up his ambitions for the musicians at the start of 2017: ‘This year we want to start a completely new process of ownership and entrepreneurism, which is ingrained not only in our fusion of sound, light and projections, but also in the way that we communicate on stage. Our

The creation of the BalticSea Music EducationFoundation strengthened a burgeoningeducation programme

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In May of this year, on the Denmark leg of the ‘Waterworks’ tour, more than 3,500 pupils aged 13 to 16 came to hear the Baltic Sea Philharmonic at its ‘Into the Music’ concerts in Copenhagen, and another 2,500 joined the orchestra in Aarhus, a city that is celebrating 2017 as European Capital of Culture. Danish Radio presenter Mathias Hammer hosted these school concerts, and said afterwards: ‘The Baltic Sea Philharmonic is playing on a level beyond that of any other young musicians’ orchestra I know. It’s so professional, but it’s also so full of energy and good ideas. And Kristjan Järvi is brilliant at bringing the atmosphere on stage out into the hall. I’ve never seen a conductor communicating so much with a young audience, allowing them to make noise, and to be a part of the concert.’

‘Into the Music’ is not the only part of the ‘Waterworks’ tour to focus on youth, however. Ahead of the final concert of the tour, on 29 August at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, the orchestra will have a workshop with a girls choir from the city to prepare a special encore for the evening’s

performance. It will be another opportunity for the Baltic Sea Philharmonic to inspire the musicians of the future, and another step toward the goals of the Baltic Sea Music Education Foundation to establish an educational system, bringing together the most talented young musicians of the entire region across all musical genres.

The experience of performing in the Baltic Sea Philharmonic is a source of constant inspiration for the young musicians of the orchestra. Russian bassoonist and principal Arseniy Shkaptsov joined the orchestra six years ago when he was 18, and says he keeps coming back because the spirit and energy of the ensemble are so special: ‘I have played in professional orchestras, and sometimes it just feels like work, like being a worker in a music-making factory. But the Baltic Sea Philharmonic gives me a spiritual and emotional experience. In this orchestra I find new emotions, new energy and new experiences, and I have so much fun too. I don’t get all this anywhere else.’

Anyone who watches the orchestra performing can see that the musicians are giving their all, and are having a blast doing so. As Dirk von Ameln, Chairman of the Baltic Sea Music Education Foundation, observes: ‘In the Baltic Sea Philharmonic you see young people who are dedicated and successful, but they also have fun. They are a lesson to us all, and also to industry. They prove that doing a job well can be the most fun you can have in life.’

Playing by heartBaltic Sea Philharmonic musicians and strings coach Jan Bjøranger explore the attraction of performing The Firebird from memory

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It’s rare for an orchestra to perform a work completely from memory, let alone such a large-scale piece as Stravinsky’s The Firebird. But that’s exactly what the Baltic Sea Philharmonic will do on the ‘Baltic Folk’ tour. Playing without the sheet music is daring in itself, but how does it benefit the players? Violinist Jan Bjøranger, a long-time strings coach with the orchestra, who works from memory with his own chamber group 1B1 in Stavanger, Norway, as well as with other ensembles, explains: ‘Performing by heart forces an orchestra to spend more time learning a piece, until players reach the point that they truly embody the music. So it’s about empowering musicians, to look upon themselves as artists rather than workers on a music production line. To reach this higher goal, though, you have to accept that you might make mistakes, and so the learning process is also about getting rid of the fear of failure.’

While playing from memory might take some musicians out of their comfort zone, the Baltic Sea Philharmonic players absolutely identify with the sense of empowerment. As clarinettist Alexey Mikhaylenko says: ‘When you play by heart, it’s like you’re writing the music. It belongs to you. You’re not reading, you’re acting.’ Bassoonist Arseniy Shkaptsov adds: ‘When you’re reading your part you don’t fully concentrate on how you are

playing. But when you already know the music, you listen more and bring out the emotional side of your playing.’

In his rehearsal workshops with the Baltic Sea Philharmonic musicians, Jan focused on building up a memorised performance by breaking the music down into distinct sections, some as short as only a few bars. ‘To make the process logical, I introduce musical and emotional “boxes,”’ he says. ‘I disintegrate the elements in a box, and describe their musical functions so that players understand their different roles. Then I put the box back together. We do the same thing with another box, one that has a different musical expression, and then we play the two boxes in relation and focus on the contrast.’ Working in this way, the musicians very quickly realised that performing the whole piece from memory was perfectly possible, says Jan. ‘Once you begin to trust yourself, it becomes a totally natural way of music making.’

‘When you play by heart, it’s like you’re writing the music. It belongs to you’

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‘And it was because the players weren’t relating to their own section, or the musician closest to them, but to the whole organism of the orchestra, and to the conductor. They weren’t deliberately determining to be together, they were together naturally.’

Baltic Sea Philharmonic violinist Augusta Jusionytė is another passionate advocate of playing from memory, and always performs this way with the New Ideas Chamber Orchestra NICO, a string ensemble based in her native Lithuania. ‘I’m addicted to playing by heart,’ she says. ‘It offers a completely different kind of interaction between players, and especially with the conductor, who is able to do something different with a piece every time. Because the conductor gets much more attention from the musicians when they don’t have to read the music, he or she is free to find new moods and explore different elements in the music, and interact more closely with the players, receiving and giving impulses in the moment. I’ve been performing without the music for ten years now, and I could never go back!’

The Firebird suite, with its clear multi-movement structure, presented an ideal canvas for memorisation. ‘The music is full of different characters,’ says Jan, ‘and the “boxes” are not long, so it’s easy to put together a story and internalise the timeline and the emotional changes. The process is more difficult with, say, a Brahms symphony.’

Another technique that Jan used in his workshops with the orchestra was to separate players from their sections, so that, for example, a violinist would stand next to the tuba player. ‘This makes the musicians experience the music in a new way,’ says Jan, ‘and suddenly puts much more emphasis on listening.’ Kristjan Järvi observed how empowering this exercise was for the musicians. ‘The ensemble was so impeccable, it was amazing,’ he says.

Our ‘Waterworks’ tour, which continues after ‘Baltic Folk’ this August, celebrates the life-giving essence of water and its power to bind every one of us together

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In May of this year the Baltic Sea Philharmonic began its pioneering ‘Waterworks’ tour with a series of concerts in Germany and Denmark. Following the conclusion of this month’s ‘Baltic Folk’ tour, the orchestra will complete its ‘Waterworks’ journey with four more performances in Germany.

‘Waterworks’ is a landmark tour for the Baltic Sea Philharmonic. Not only are we celebrating the 80th birthday of Philip Glass by performing two pieces by the great American composer. We are also introducing a thrilling new style of concert presentation, combining music with cutting-edge projection art, lighting and sound design, as well as bespoke performance clothing for our musicians.

The ‘Waterworks’ tour is inspired by water and its power to bind every one of us together. What unites us in the Baltic Sea Philharmonic, beyond music and culture, is our connection to nature and to the landscapes of our region, and nothing shapes our natural environment more than the Baltic Sea itself. With ‘Waterworks’ we celebrate not just the life-giving essence of water, but also the Baltic Sea – that great body of water which sustains our region and joins us to all the other water in the world.

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From the Baltic to the AmazonOur connection to the world’s rivers and oceans inspired the Baltic Sea Philharmonic’s ongoing 2017 tour, ‘Waterworks’

Kristjan Järvi explains how this idea shaped the choice of music for the tour: ‘Our programme starts with Handel’s Water Music, because as Handel was born in Germany he was originally part of our Baltic compositional fabric, and it brings us all the way down to the waters of the Amazon, with Philip Glass’s Aguas da Amazonia. The music represents how we are from this region, but are also connected to the whole world. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the waters of the Baltic or the Amazon: everything is connected.’

The Baltic Sea Philharmonic presents its own supercharged take on Water Music, combining arrangements by contemporary composers Gene Pritsker and Charles Coleman with selections from Handel’s original composition. The resulting version of Water Music reveals new perspectives on this famous old piece. And as we mark Philip Glass’s 80th birthday year, alongside Aguas da Amazonia we perform another of his nature-themed compositions, the Violin Concerto No. 2 ‘The American Four Seasons’, for which we welcome back the dynamic Russian-born violinist Mikhail Simonyan.

‘The audience should feel as if they are entering a new dimension’

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We are also joined by three members of the New York-based Absolute Ensemble who are embedded in the Baltic Sea Philharmonic for ‘Waterworks’. And there are still more collaborators on this special tour: lighting designer Bertil Mark, projection artist Philipp Geist and sound designer Chris Ekers have joined us to create a truly immersive concert experience, fusing music, sound, light and images to magical effect. These technological enhancements are not merely designed to thrill and delight audiences, says Kristjan, but to take them to a new level of awareness and openness. ‘We want to create an atmosphere from the moment a concert goer enters the space,’ he says. ‘The audience should feel as if they are suddenly entering a new dimension, where they can forget about their regular lives and become part of a world where anything is possible.’

The reimagining of the concert experience for ‘Waterworks’ doesn’t stop with spectacular projections and atmospheric sound and lighting design. The innovation extends to what the musicians are wearing on stage, with the players and Kristjan sporting bespoke clothing from Monton,

a leading brand that is part of the Estonian fashion house Baltika Group. The orchestra’s striking new look has been designed to reflect the water theme of the concert repertoire, with the musicians clad in shades of grey, white and blue. The clothes fuse style and comfort, giving the Baltic Sea Philharmonic a unique edge, says Kristjan: ‘It’s rare for orchestral musicians to have comfortable performance clothes that are so stylish. So we are breaking new ground, both in terms of fashion and in how the stage design and lighting is enhanced by the look of an orchestra.’

‘Waterworks’ has already wowed audiences in Hattingen, Germany, and Copenhagen and Aarhus in Denmark in May this year. ‘Waterworks’ now returns to Germany with four concerts in August. First we’re in Berlin on 25 August, to perform at the Konzerthaus as part of the Young Euro Classic festival. Then we revisit Peenemünde on the Baltic Sea island of Usedom, where the story of the Baltic Sea Philharmonic began nearly ten years ago. Our ‘Waterworks’ journey next takes us back 500 years when we travel to Martin Luther’s city of Wittenberg, where we perform an open-air concert as part of celebrations to mark half a millennium since the Reformation. And we end the tour on 29 August with our debut performance in Hamburg’s spectacular new Elbphilharmonie, a fitting final destination with its gleaming wave-topped facade mirroring the movement of water in the harbour it overlooks.

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Gene Pritsker (1971) /George Frideric Handel (1685 – 1759) / Charles Coleman (1968) Water Music

Philip Glass (1937) Violin Concerto No. 2 ‘The American Four Seasons’

Philip Glass (1937) Aguas da Amazonia orchestrated by Charles Coleman

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Waterworks TourBaltic Sea PhilharmonicKristjan Järvi Mikhail Simonyan

August 2017

25 August 2017, 8.00 pm Young Euro Classic (Berlin, Konzerthaus), Germany

26 August 2017, 8.00 pm Usedom Music Festival (Kraftwerk Museum Peenemünde, Island of Usedom), Germany

27 August 2017, 7.00 pmLutherstadt Wittenberg (open air – Reformation Summer, Schlossplatz), Germany

29 August 2017, 8.00 pm Hamburg (Elbphilharmonie), Germany

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Published byBaltic Sea Music Education Foundation e. V.Strasse der Pariser Kommune 3810243 Berlin, GermanyPhone: +49 30 297 702 90Fax: +49 30 297 702 92Email: contact@bmef.euwww.bmef.eu

Dr Dirk von Ameln, Chairman of the BoardRolf Seelige-Steinhoff, Deputy ChairmanFrank Häuser, TreasurerMatthias Warnig, President of the Board of Trustees

Kristjan Järvi, Founding Conductor and Music Director

Thomas Hummel, Executive Director

Jutta Loosen, Communications Director

Artistic CouncilValery Gergiev, Marek Janowski, Mariss Jansons, Kurt Masur (†), Esa-Pekka Salonen

EditorPeter Somerford

DesignBrousse & Ruddigkeit, Jonas Rose

PhotosAll photographs by Peter Adamik, except page 19 Liudmila Malofeeva, pages 11, 37 Baltic Sea Music Education Foundation.

AcknowledgementsBaltic Sea Music Education Foundation is grateful for all the support received throughout the year from individuals, companies and institutions, as well as all music lovers. Many thanks to every one of them!

We offer our sincere gratitude to Prof. Dr h. c. Cornelia Pieper, Consul General in Gdańsk, for her support. We would also like to thank all of our envoys for their support throughout the year and for their enthusiasm for the Baltic Sea Philharmonic.

We would like to welcome Jens Lange among our group of supporters, and we thank him and all of our supporters for their contributions to our educational programmes in 2017.

A great thank you to all the music academies involved in our 2017 projects for their support and help.

Discover more of the Baltic Sea Philharmonic on our blog blog.baltic-sea-philharmonic.eu

Baltic Sea Philharmonic

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