Baltic Sea Philharmonic and Kristjan Jarvi bring ‘Nordic Pulse’ to Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia

BERLIN - Electrifying conductor Kristjan Jarvi brings the multinational Baltic Sea Philharmonic to Lithuania (Palanga, 11 March), Latvia (Riga, 12 March), Estonia (Tallinn, 16 March), Finland (Helsinki, 17 March) and Russia (St. Petersburg, 19 March). Jarvi and his orchestra, which buzzes with the brightest young talent from across the Nordic region, will be back in the region for the first time since 2016. The tour is supported by the German Goethe-Institute.

A Baltic Sea Philharmonic concert is a unique experience that throws classical music conventions out the window. With Jarvi’s typical flare for defying genres, rippling guitar, floating vocals and soaring strings will welcome the audience as Estonian singer-songwriter Mick Pedaja opens the concerts alongside the orchestra. This sets the stage for a life-enhancing journey through music of the present and the past. Young Swiss violinist David Nebel stars in Peteris Vasks’s radiant ‘Lonely Angel’ and the Finnish premiere of Lithuanian Gediminas Gelgotas’s 2018 Violin Concerto. Jarvi conducts a recent piece of his own, Aurora, which is inspired by the aurora borealis, and he ends with a concert suite from Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Sleeping Beauty. But surely no one will have seen that beloved classic played as it is here – completely by heart, with not a page of sheet music on stage, and with most of the players standing and moving freely. A unique sight, and an unforgettable experience that audiences in Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonic Hall, at the Dubai Opera (United Arab Emirates) and at international renowned festival enjoyed.

Recruiting new talent

The Baltic Sea Philharmonic regularly auditions the best and brightest young musicians from across the Baltic Sea region in order to renew and refresh the pool of outstanding players who perform with the orchestra on tour. Many of the musicians who join the orchestra are current or former students at top conservatoires and music institutes. This March the orchestra will run its Talent Tour 2019 alongside the ‘Nordic Pulse’ tour, giving musicians in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Russia the opportunity to audition during a special Talent Day. Visitors are welcome to attend this day of open auditions, and more details are available online at https://baltic-sea-philharmonic.eu/talenttour2019/.

Baltic Sea Philharmonic – a revolution in music and culture

The Baltic Sea Philharmonic is a new paradigm for music making in the 21st century. Its concerts are a unique spectacle of sound, light, projection art and choreography; its passion for playing orchestral works from memory transforms the musical experience for both players and audiences; and its performances, under the electrifying baton of Music Director Kristjan Jarvi, have a special passion and energy that’s infectious. But even more than this, as a community of musicians from ten Nordic countries, the Baltic Sea Philharmonic transcends geographical and historical boundaries and has become a movement for bringing people together. Embodying all that is innovative and progressive about the Nordic region, this visionary ensemble is taking the traditional orchestral model further than ever before. ‘It is a living breathing creature, with boundless energy and enthusiasm for the new – an adventure in itself,’ says Kristjan Jarvi.