Baltic Sea Philharmonic

Waterworks Tour 2017

WelcomeWe are delighted to welcome you to our ‘Waterworks’ tour. We thrive on making connections – with you our audiences, and with our fellow artists. And there is nothing that connects every one of us more than water. It is the essence of all life, and for us in the Baltic Sea Philharmonic, it is also the engine of our region, shaping our environment, and linking all the home countries of our players. On this tour we celebrate these elemental connections, and we also honour the American composer Philip Glass in his 80th birthday year.

Such celebrations call for a truly special concert experience and we are excited to introduce with this tour a groundbreaking spectacle that fuses music, fashion, lighting design, visual art and choreography. We hope you will be thrilled by what you see, moved by what you hear, and inspired, like us, to seek out a deeper connection to different countries and cultures, and to the natural world that we all depend on.

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The origin of ‘Waterworks’ lies in how nature connects all of usFind out about this tour’s inspiration, our concert schedule and the music you will be hearing

Wave Riders

Our dynamic leader and performers are inspiring the next generationDiscover Kristjan Järvi’s vision for the Baltic Sea Philharmonic, and meet our soloist and musicians

Flow

Bringing people together is our constant motivationFollow our journey from pioneering youth orchestra to international movement for unity

Sea Change

We are transforming the concert experienceStep into a new world of light, sound, visual art and fashion, as we shake up performance conventions

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From the Baltic to the Amazon

From its earliest days, the Baltic Sea Philharmonic has always been uniting people. Every year our musicians come together from the ten countries of the Baltic Sea region, an area that was historically divided. And as an ambassador for Nordic culture, we reach out to other nations and people around the world with our music. Beyond music and culture, what unites us in the Baltic Sea Philharmonic 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.

The music of ‘Waterworks’ is inspired by water and its power to bind us together, as Kristjan Järvi, Music Director of the Baltic Sea Philharmonic, explains: ‘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.’

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 are delighted to welcome back the Russian-born violinist Mikhail Simonyan. We also welcome musicians of the

New York-based Absolute Ensemble, who will be embedded in the Baltic Sea Philharmonic on this tour. But they are not our only collaborators for ‘Waterworks’. Sound designer Chris Ekers, lighting designer Bertil Mark, projection artist Philipp Geist and a brilliant technical team have joined us to create a truly immersive concert experience, fusing music, fashion, sound, light and images to magical effect. This show marks a new stage in our journey as an orchestra, and we are thrilled to be sharing it for the first time with you.

Transforming the concert experience is an exciting departure for the Baltic Sea Philharmonic, but this tour also takes us back to people and places we have connected with so strongly in the past. Returning to Copenhagen, we continue our commitment to education by

presenting school concerts for more than 7,000 teenage pupils, some of whom may never have heard symphonic music being performed live. And Aarhus, on the east coast of Denmark, welcomes us for the first time, as it celebrates its year as European Capital of Culture.

We return to the Konzerthaus in Berlin, where we play in the Young Euro Classic festival, and to Peenemünde on the Baltic Sea island of Usedom, where our story began back in 2008. Our ‘Waterworks’ journey also takes us back 500 years when we visit Martin Luther’s city of Wittenberg in Germany, where we perform an open-air concert as part of celebrations to mark half a millennium since the Reformation. And we end our tour with another first – a performance in Hamburg’s new Elbphilharmonie, a fitting final destination with its gleaming wave-topped facade mirroring the movement of water in the harbour it overlooks.

From the Baltic to the Amazon, from the Danish coast to the Elbe, our journey through the waters of the world shows we are all connected. We hope you enjoy riding the waves with us!

Let the music of ‘Waterworks’ take you on an inspirational journey

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ʻIt doesn’t matter whether it’s the waters of the Baltic or the Amazon: everything is connected’

May 2017

5 May 2017, 7.00 pmHattingen (LWL-Industriemuseum Henrichshütte),Germany

7 May 2017, 3.00 pmCopenhagen (DR Concert Hall),Denmark

9 May 2017, 7.00 pmAarhus (Musikhuset Århus),Denmark

August 2017

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

26 August 2017, 8.00 pmUsedom 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 pmHamburg (Elbphilharmonie),Germany

School concerts

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

Philip Glass (1937)Aguas da Amazoniaorchestrated by Charles Coleman (excerpts)

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Baltic Sea PhilharmonicKristjan Järvi Mikhail SimonyanGene 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 Amazoniaorchestrated by Charles Coleman

May 2017

8 May 2017, 9.00 am, 11.00 am, 1.00 pmCopenhagen (DR Concert Hall),Denmark

10 May 2017, 9.00 am, 11.00 am, 1.00 pmAarhus (Musikhuset Århus),Denmark

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Waterworks Tour

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‘The principle of all things is water; everything comes from water and everything returns to water.’ These words from the philosopher, mathematician and astronomer Thales of Miletus (c.624 BC – c.547 BC) show how essential water was for the ancient Greeks – an importance that is just as great for our civilisation today. Without water, there would be no life on our blue planet, nor would there be any of its magnificent mountains. So this natural element must be protected. The Baltic Sea Philharmonic reminds us of this idea with its ‘Waterworks’ programme.

One of the most popular pieces featuring the element of water is George Frideric Handel’s Water Music. It was composed for King George I of Great Britain, whom Handel had known earlier as the Elector of Hanover. The music, or at least part of it, was first performed to accompany George and his entourage on a royal cruise along the River Thames on the evening of 17 July 1717. Taken together, the 22 movements of Water Music create a spectacular Baroque experience. The lavishly instrumented music was later structured into three suites, and is especially appropriate for arrangements, as Charles Coleman’s ‘Drenched’ and Gene Pritsker’s ‘Water Possessed’ both show. These contemporary pieces were inspired by classical and pop music, and Kristjan Järvi has combined them with selections

from Handel’s original composition to create a version of Water Music that reveals new perspectives on the famous old piece.

The US composer Philip Glass, who is celebrating his 80th birthday in 2017, is one of the most prominent representatives of minimalism, although he prefers to describe himself as a composer of ‘music with repetitive structures’. Conceived in the 1960s by Glass, Steve Reich, Terry Riley and La Monte Young, minimalism is characterised by repeated melodic and rhythmic patterns. It often uses electronic instruments and effects such as the synthesizer and tape loops. It is also influenced by non-Western traditions: Glass found inspiration in Indian music, particularly the work of Ravi Shankar.

Glass composed his Second Violin Concerto for the US violinist Robert McDuffie, who premiered it in December 2009 with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Conceived as a counterpart to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, the four-movement concerto is titled ‘The American Four Seasons’, but Glass leaves it up to the listener to decide which movement represents which season. The 40-minute concerto begins with a Prologue for the soloist and is punctuated by three ‘songs’ for unaccompanied violin, which helps loosen the structure. As is typical for American minimalist composers, the instrumentation combines strings

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Listening GuideOur water-inspired programme embraces Baroque splendours and minimalist wonders

and synthesizer. The music contains many references to Vivaldi’s Baroque tonal language, which can be regarded as a precursor of minimalism owing to its repeating patterns. The concerto thrives above all on its memorable melodies, which have a truly magical radiance despite their considerable brevity, while its flowing rhythms are reminiscent of the movement of water.

The subsequent Glass suite Aguas da Amazonia takes us to South America. The music, which is influenced by folklore, jazz and New Age elements, was produced in the 1990s for the experimental Brazilian group UAKTI. Originally, the numbers were conceived for a dance company in Belo Horizonte. Kristjan Järvi had known the

music for some time when he came across it again on CD and was inspired by the idea of an orchestration. He also noticed that his own children found the music wonderful. So he called Glass and asked for his permission to adapt the piece. Kristjan Järvi’s close friend, the composer Charles Coleman, produced the arrangement, transcribing the cycle for classical orchestra. ‘The music is so pure and well structured that it was literally crying out for a different kind of presentation,’ Charles Coleman explained. The premiere was given in March 2016 by the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kristjan Järvi, who considers Glass to be ‘one of the greatest musical pioneers’.

Aguas da Amazonia was originally conceived for a dance company

RidersWave

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 after graduating from Manhattan School of Music he undertook conducting studies at the University of Michigan.

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Architect of changeKristjan Järvi thrives on reshaping the orchestral experience for performers and audiences alike

‘I want to create transformational environments,’ says Kristjan Järvi. This mission is not confined to the concert hall and the way technology and visual art can transform the audience experience. It also extends to his vision of how an orchestra can enrich the lives of its players and embolden them to change the world around them. Kristjan’s ambition to make this a reality with the Baltic Sea Philharmonic has never wavered in nearly ten years as 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, Kristjan founded the Absolute Ensemble, a band that brings together jazz, hip-hop, electro-acoustic, classical and other musical styles. This boundary-busting group, three members of which are joining the Baltic Sea Philharmonic on its ‘Waterworks’ tour, 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.’ Though there is no denying his dynamism as a conductor; the New York Times hailed him as ‘a kinetic force on the podium, like Leonard Bernstein reborn’.

For Kristjan, however, 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 and the feeling that anything is possible. ‘I’m not preaching to them, but gently raising their consciousness. They are the ones taking the change to another level,’ he says. ‘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.’

‘Music is something that flips a switch in all of us’

Biography:Born in Novosibirsk in 1985, Mikhail started violin lessons at the age of five. He played his first solo concert at New York’s Lincoln Center at the age of 13, and made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2000. In 2001 Leonard Slatkin invited him to perform with America’s National Symphony Orchestra at the 30th anniversary of the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC; and in 2002 he entertained guests at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on the invitation of Yehudi Menuhin.

Currently Mikhail spends most of his time touring Russia and abroad. He has worked with such conductors as Valery Gergiev, Mikhail Pletnev, Kristjan Järvi and Cristian Măcelaru; performed at Carnegie Hall, the

Concertgebouw, and the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory; and played with the world’s best orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, Austria’s Tonkünstler Orchestra, and the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra.

In 2014 Mikhail created and led the Kaluga Youth Symphony Orchestra in Russia. A year later he became president of the Open Sea Cultural and Educational Programmes Foundation, which supports more than a dozen cultural projects in Russia and abroad. The Foundation is particularly active in international cultural cooperation, and one of its most significant projects is a unique semi-staged interpretation of Bizet’s Carmen, uniting performers from Russia, Lithuania, Ukraine and Ossetia.

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Mikhail Simonyan’s career has taken some exciting turns since 2011, when he last toured with the Baltic Sea Philharmonic, or the Baltic Sea Youth Philharmonic as it was then. As well as performing concertos with leading orchestras around the world, he has created and led a youth orchestra in Russia, and become president of a new international cultural and educational foundation. For an artist still in his early thirties, such entrepreneurial credentials say a lot about his character and charisma. ‘Some musicians are happy just playing in an orchestra, or travelling the globe as soloists,’ he says, ‘but if you want to create your own team, and build an army of great people around you, you just have to go ahead and do it.’

Mikhail shares a natural talent for leadership with Kristjan Järvi, one of his closest friends and collaborators. The two have worked together often since meeting in 1999, notably partnering for the violinist’s 2011 Deutsche Grammophon recording of the Khachaturian and Barber concertos. ‘Kristjan is like no other conductor,’ says Mikhail. ‘There is a freedom about his way of making music that I love. The whole process of rehearsing and performing is so alive with him.’

The violinist finds a special freedom too in Glass’s Violin Concerto No. 2. The music’s repetition of themes and phrases offers huge opportunities to create a singular interpretation, he says, but that same freedom makes the piece challenging: ‘In a way it makes your soul quite naked, because people can judge what kind of person you are by how you shape the music and play the phrases.’

As he reunites with Kristjan and the Baltic Sea Philharmonic, Mikhail is acutely conscious that the orchestra’s message of unity and international cooperation remains a vital one: ‘Political bridges have been burned across the Baltic region, but we will always be neighbours. The cultural bond between our countries can never be broken, and the Baltic Sea Philharmonic is making that bond stronger.’ The healing power of music is something Mikhail has seen first-hand, when he set up a project to support the Afghanistan National Institute of Music in battle-scarred Kabul. He would like to see more young musicians taking up social, educational and charitable initiatives. ‘These kind of projects are far more important than signing a record deal,’ he says. ‘You’re investing your talent, time and passion to reach a much broader range of society, an audience that will never judge you for what you’re doing, but will love you for doing it.’

Wave Riders

Mikhail Simonyan combines life as an international soloist with a talent for spearheading cultural and social projects

Violinist and visionary

‘If you want to create your own team, you just have to do it’

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Our musiciansViolinVida Bobin-Sokołowska (Poland)Daniele De Vecchi (Germany)Tatiana Dvortsova (Russia)Toomas Ellervee (Estonia)Ilze Gagaine (Latvia)Nadiia Goncharenko (Germany)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)Erika Melnicuka (Latvia)Jan Mleczko (Poland)Evgenia Pavlova (Russia)*Ada Schwengebecher (Germany)Kinga Streszewska (Poland)Anna Trukhina (Russia)Mari-Liis Urb (Estonia)Anna Walek (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)Martin Mänd (Estonia)Victor Necludov (Sweden)Armas Riives (Finland)Tomasz Szewczyk (Poland)

Double BassAlexandra Dzybenko (Russia)Miranda Erlich (Finland)Eduard Gadea Salom (Sweden)Hanna Jürgenson (Estonia)Dušan Kostić (Germany)Miłosz Madejski (Poland)

FluteKristīne Beitika (Latvia)Teimurazi Kharshiladze (Germany)Kaisa Kortelainen (Finland)

OboeHannah Baumann (Germany)Seokyeon Brian Kang (Germany)Freya Obijon (Germany)

ClarinetAlexey Mikhaylenko (Russia)*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 (Estonia)Mattias Johansson (Sweden)Kaspar-Oskar Kramp (Germany)Jüri Leek (Estonia)Ingvar Leerimaa (Estonia)

TubaLudwig Angerhöfer (Germany)

PianoGabriele Bekeryte (Lithuania)

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

*Principals

Absolute EnsembleMat Fieldes (Electric bass)Charlie Porter (Trumpet)David Rozenblatt (Percussion)

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)

Wave Riders

Flow

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Fearless and freeThe Baltic Sea Philharmonic is on a journey to open hearts and minds

Flow

‘Flow’ is a word that Kristjan Järvi keeps coming back to when describing his work with the Baltic Sea Philharmonic. For him, it sums up the ideal state of being for orchestral musicians: ‘It’s a shared creative energy, an unbreakable feeling of being together. It’s the freedom that comes when everyone is communicating and playing instinctively, with no fear or insecurities, when everybody is tapped into one flow.’

This idea of connectedness is central to ‘Waterworks’, with its music linking the Baltic Sea to the far-off waters of the Amazon. It is moreover the defining philosophy behind the Baltic Sea Philharmonic, in its mission to unite musicians and communities, and reconnect them with the environment. As Kristjan 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 started in 2008 on the resort island of Usedom, off the northern edge of Germany. Thomas Hummel, the Director of the Usedom Music Festival, wanted to create a new 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 Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia and Sweden.

‘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

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 consolidated a burgeoning education programme, which included chamber music coaching as well as workshops for young conductors and composers.

Underpinning all this training 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 orchestra’s continuing participation in 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

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 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, as ‘Waterworks’ reimagines the concert experience on a level beyond what was pioneered in Vienna, the Baltic Sea Philharmonic is starting a whole new adventure. It’s as if, to borrow the theme of ‘Waterworks’, the river journey of the last decade is ending, and a voyage out into the ocean is just beginning. Kristjan has ambitious plans for the musicians in 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 communication, between each other, and with the audience, should be completely

‘We’re creating a movement that brings people together’

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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.’

This year in Copenhagen and Aarhus the Baltic Sea Philharmonic is expecting more than 7,000 pupils, aged 13 to 16, from the Zealand and Jutland regions of Denmark, all of whom will have the chance to experience symphonic music performed by a professional orchestra in a major concert hall, sometimes for the first time.

‘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, at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, the orchestra will have a coaching session 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.

The power of young musicians to inspire others like them is constantly apparent in the Baltic Sea Philharmonic, especially when the players become educators themselves. Norwegian musician Sebastiaan Molenaar, for example, moved up from the percussion section in April 2016 to become a coach, taking responsibility for training the next group of percussionists ahead of the orchestra’s ‘Baltic Sea Landscapes’ tour of Europe.

Sebastiaan has been particularly inspired by the sense of liberty that Kristjan has instilled in the musicians. ‘There’s a lot of freedom,’ he says, ‘which makes it much more interesting, and makes you more relaxed when you perform. This helps me in other situations, too: in other orchestras and at auditions. I can show more of myself without being too stressed.’

For anyone who watches the orchestra perform, the freedom in its playing manifests itself, above all, in joy. 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.’

SeaChange

‘Waterworks’ marks the start of a radical new approach to presenting orchestral music. On this tour the Baltic Sea Philharmonic is setting out to transform the audience experience, by using cutting-edge projection, lighting and sound design to immerse concert goers in a world that’s visual as well as musical. These technological enhancements are not merely designed to thrill and delight audiences, says Kristjan Järvi, but to take them to a new level of awareness and openness. ‘I 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.’

From hearing the splashes of raindrops echoing around the concert hall to seeing ripples and waves pulsing in time with the music, or feeling almost swept up in a projection of water cascading over a balcony, the possibilities with state-of-the-art technologies to create an alternate reality for concert audiences are immense. Take 3D mapping, for instance. With this technique, an image can be projected on to any surface or volumetric object, be it the facade of a building or the sound reflectors on the ceiling of a concert hall. The mapping, or adaptation, of the image

Sea Change

A world transformedWith ‘Waterworks’ the Baltic Sea Philharmonic is reimagining the concert experience

creates an optical illusion whereby the fusion of the projected image and the real surface is transformed into a new object that appears to be real.

Water, with all its natural forms, is an endlessly inspiring theme for projection mapping and lighting design, says Kristjan. ‘Handel’s Water Music goes through a series of transformations, and each of the ten movements of Philip Glass’s Aguas da Amazonia has a different character and feel, and we want to convey all this variety through the changing visual elements and lighting.’ As for Glass’s Violin Concerto No. 2 ‘The American Four Seasons’, the visual design intriguingly recasts the seasons as the four elements – earth, air, fire and water. ‘All the elements, the whole force of nature can be represented with this piece,’ says Kristjan.

The designers and visual artists behind ‘Waterworks’ comprise a multidisciplinary team of leaders in their respective fields. German-born Bertil Mark is an award-winning lighting and stage designer who has designed shows and tour productions for rock groups, hip-hop artists and singer-songwriters. British-based sound designer Chris Ekers has worked with dance, theatre and opera companies, and with artists such as Gavin Bryars, Jan Garbarek, Max Richter and the Hilliard Ensemble.

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German projection artist Philipp Geist’s musical collaborations have included an installation in Bayreuth in 2013 for the Richard Wagner 200th-anniversary celebrations. His latest project, Time Drifts Cologne, transformed the square beside Cologne Cathedral into a large-scale walkable light installation.

The inspiration behind Kristjan’s original idea of enhancing the musical performance with visual elements came from a range of sources. ‘Some rock concerts do amazing things with 3D mapping, where surface projections change the entire venue right in front of your eyes,’ he says. ‘A number of symphony orchestras in the US and Europe use coloured mood lighting to add atmosphere, but with the technology we have today, so much more can be done. As long as we do it subtly and creatively, and in harmony with the music, then the visuals become a seamless part of the total experience.’

For Kristjan, the immediate goal of audience transformation doesn’t just end with the last note played: ‘We want this experience to ignite a spark in people, so that ultimately they become so inspired by what they’ve seen and heard that they will want to go out and create something similar themselves.’ Just as the Baltic Sea Philharmonic is transforming expectations of what an orchestra should be, so this new adventure in orchestral presentation, as pioneered in ‘Waterworks’, is a dynamic and revolutionary model for concerts of the future.

Team Sunbeam ProductionsKristjan JärviEvelyn Koster (Project Manager)Ricarda-Selina Reichert (Production Manager)Bertil Mark (Lighting Design)Lars Falkner (Lighting Design)Philipp Geist (Projection Design)Chris Ekers (Sound Design)Holger Schwark (Sound Design)Ruben Ferdinand (Sound Engineer)Tristan Kühn (Sound Engineer) Documentary TeamDavid Donnelly (Film Direction)Dan Marque (Cinematographer)Reid Rice (Cinematographer)Constella Productions (Production Coordination) CollaboratorsAlex Olegnowicz (Symmetrica TV)

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Water is an endlessly inspiring theme for projection mapping and lighting design

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With ‘Waterworks’, the Baltic Sea Philharmonic’s reimagining of the concert experience doesn’t stop with spectacular projections and atmospheric sound and lighting design. The innovation extends to what the musicians are wearing on stage. Not for them the conventional formal concert attire; instead the players and conductor Kristjan Järvi are sporting bespoke clothing from Monton, a leading brand that is part of the Estonian fashion house Baltika Group. The orchestra’s new look has been designed to reflect the water theme of the concert repertoire, with the musicians clad not in black but in shades of grey, white and blue.

For Kristjan, the collaboration with Monton is an important part of the new presentation concept being pioneered in ‘Waterworks’. He says: ‘The sense of unity that I want to achieve between the music, the projections, the lighting and the sound design also incorporates the clothing of the orchestra. Everything is part of an organic whole, a unified artistic concept, and that includes how the orchestra looks on stage, the way its clothes represent the different colours of water, and the way the light reflects off the various materials.’

This tour marks the start of a long-term collaboration planned by the Baltic Sea Philharmonic and the Baltika Group. The two organisations are particularly well matched, in more than just name:

Sea Change

Style revolutiondesigned by a team from Estonia, Finland and Lithuania, takes inspiration from two islands that could not be more different: hot, tropical Cuba and cool, clean Iceland. And it’s the second of these islands, with its geysirs, waterfalls, glaciers and surrounding seas, that has inspired the design for the orchestra’s outfits.

Maire Milder, Baltika Group’s Branding and Retail Concept Director, says: ‘The styling for “Waterworks” uses a black‒grey‒white‒navy colour palette, with sky blue for the accent. It’s a rather minimalistic styling where details act as focal points: pleats imitate water flow and movement, and sheer tulle and straight-cut edges represent

the qualities of ice.’ She adds: ‘We also considered the need for comfort, so that the musicians can concentrate on their goal of making music.’

The fusion of style and comfort gives the Baltic Sea Philharmonic a unique and innovative edge, says Kristjan: ‘Monton’s clothing is the kind that allows a musician to move around naturally. And while comfort is paramount, 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.’

The Baltic Sea Philharmonic has an ultra-cool new look thanks to an innovative partnership with Estonian fashion group Baltika

innovative and passionate about everything they do, both are driven by an openness to fresh ideas, and both bring talented people together and cross geographical boundaries.

Baltika has a design heritage stretching back almost 90 years, and played a significant part in safeguarding and championing Estonia’s textile and clothing industry during the country’s transition from closed borders to the post-Communist era of free-market opportunity. Monton, one of five Baltika brands, was established nearly 15 years ago – making it only a few years older than the Baltic Sea Philharmonic – and is today the most successful Estonian fashion brand in the world.

Known for its free-spirited individuality, Monton often merges contrasting influences to create a look that’s fresh and unexpected. For instance, its spring/summer 2017 collection ‘Duality’,

‘It’s rare for orchestral musicians to have comfortable performance clothes that are so stylish’

August 2017

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

20 August 2017, 7.00 pmRheingau Musik Festival (Wiesbaden, Kurhaus), Germany

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

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The Baltic Sea Philharmonic’s second tour of 2017, takes audiences in Sweden, Germany and Italy on a folk-inspired journey through the eastern part of the Baltic Sea region. ‘Baltic Folk’ combines the devotional warmth of Arvo Pärt’s Swansong, with the poetic nostalgia of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, and the fairy-tale magic of Stravinsky’s The Firebird.

Swansong is Pärt’s orchestration of Littlemore Tractus, a piece he originally composed for choir and organ, setting words from a sermon that the influential theologian John Henry Newman preached in 1843 in the English village of Littlemore. Kristjan Järvi likens the music to a village waltz: ‘Sometimes this waltz is slightly bitter, at other times nostalgic, but in the end 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, with its story of rebirth. Of the ever-popular Rachmaninoff Second Concerto, he says: ‘It is the most nostalgic, the most Russian-themed concerto ever.’

Joining the Baltic Sea Philharmonic to perform the Rachmaninoff is 15-year-old Russian pianist Alexander Malofeev, one of the most exciting talents of his generation. Kristjan says of his new

Sea Change

Voices of the eastOur second tour in 2017 explores folk-inspired music from Estonia and Russia

Baltic Folk Tour

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

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 – 1943)Piano Concerto No. 2

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

Baltic Sea PhilharmonicKristjan Järvi Alexander Malofeev

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.’

The Baltic Sea Philharmonic is making an adventurous shift from orchestral conventions by performing Stravinsky‘s The Firebird entirely from memory. For Kristjan this is not so much a technical exercise or mental feat, but more an evolution in how musicians express themselves as artists: ‘Performing The Firebird from memory is all about chemistry and communication. It should feel like the players are improvising music that they have known for a long time.’ The project is daring nonetheless, and offers a fascinating experience for both musicians and audience.

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 DirectorThomas Hummel, Executive DirectorJutta 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 Open Sea Foundation, pages 9, 11, 37 Baltic Sea Music Education Foundation.

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

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.

We would especially like to thank the Mädchenchor Hamburg and their director Gesa Werhahn for their great cooperation on the workshop in Hamburg.

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

Baltic Sea Music Education Foundation is supported by

Baltic Sea Philharmonic