Baltic Sea Philharmonic performed its first concert in 2008 at the occasion of the summit of the Baltic Sea states in Riga, brought together by Festival Director of the Usedom Music Festival, Thomas Hummel. Since then, the orchestra’s reputation and ambitions have grown steadily and it has toured the famous concert halls and festivals of Europe, including White Nights Music Festival in St. Petersburg, Baltic Sea Festival in Stockholm, Bonn Beethovenfest, Rheingau Music Festival, MiTo Festival in Italy and Usedom Music Festival, its original birthplace. In 2016 the orchestra was named Baltic Sea Philharmonic.
Baltic Sea Philharmonic Timeline
- Inaugural concerts at the Great Guild in Riga (Latvia) and the Historical Power Station at the Usedom Music Festival (Germany).
- Premiere of Burning Fiery Furnace by Niels Marthinsen.
- Seven concerts in six countries, including festival openings at the Estonian Glasperlenspiel Music Festival in Tartu, Bremen Music Festival and Usedom Music Festival in Peenemünde.
- Becomes an Associate Member of the European Federation of National Youth Orchestras (EFNYO).
- Concerts in Gdansk (Poland), Pärnu (Estonia), Riga (Latvia), Copenhagen (Denmark) and St. Petersburg (Russia).
- Guest appearances at the Young Euro Classic Festival in Berlin and at the opening of the Usedom Music Festival.
- Premiere of Daniel Schnyder’s Parkour musical.
- Two tours with concerts in Lithuania, Russia, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Estonia and Germany.
- First appearances in Italy.
- Performances at Dresden Music Festival, Schumann Festival in Düsseldorf, Baltic Sea Festival in Stockholm, Young Euro Classic Festival in Berlin, and at the opening of the Usedom Music Festival under the musical direction of Kurt Masur.
- Appearance at the Summit of the Council of the Baltic Sea States in Stralsund, on the invitation of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
- Premiere of Never Ignore the Cosmic Ocean by Gediminas Gelgotas.
- Six concerts in Russia, Germany and Italy.
- Baltic Sea Philharmonic invited to bring ‘Baltic Sea Voyage’ programme to Kaliningrad Cathedral and the International Centre for Performing Arts in Moscow, at the request of the German Consulate General for ‘Germany Year’ in Russia.
- Inaugurates the ‘Baltic Focus’ of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Europe’s largest classical music festival.
- Performs a special concert with Kurt Masur to open the Usedom Music Festival.
- Baltic Sea Music Education Foundation (BMEF) created to develop a consolidated music educational system for the area.
- Opens sold-out tour with concerts in the most prestigious concert halls of Germany and Poland: Berlin’s Philharmonie and the Filharmonia Narodowa in Warsaw.
- Performances at Rheingau Music Festival, Usedom Music Festival and Beethovenfest Bonn, and in the Capella in St. Petersburg, Teatro dal Verme in Milan and Teatro Filarmonico in Verona.
- Cooperation with the Europera Youth Orchestra in Görlitz.
- First official album release – ‘Baltic Sea Voyage’ – on Naïve Classique.
- Paris debut at the city’s prestigious Théâtre des Champs-Elysées.
- Ten-day, nine-city European tour to Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark and Poland.
- Premieres of Mountains. Waters. (Freedom) by Gediminas Gelgotas and ‘Green’ Piano Concerto by Severi Pyysalo.
- Awarded the European Cultural Prize in recognition of the enormous impact it has made on the culture of the region. Prize presented by former German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher at a gala event in Dresden’s Frauenkirche, on the 25th anniversary of German Reunification, with the orchestra and Kristjan Järvi performing in the live televised ceremony together with Jonas Kaufmann and Angela Gheorghiu.
- Broadcasts of Berlin and Paris concerts on Mezzo TV and Classica.
- Remaned from Baltic Sea Youth Philharmonic to Baltic Sea Philharmonic.
- Inaugural ‘Baltic Sea Landscapes’ tour in April through Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Russia.
- ‘Baltic Sea Discovery’ tour in September through Lithuania, Russia, Poland, Denmark and Germany.
- Cooperation with Gidon Kremer and his Kremerata Baltica.
- Album release – Wagner: The Ring – published on Sony Classical.
- Live stream of ‘Baltic Sea Landscapes’ concert from Moscow and later on broadcast of the concert on Mezzo TV.
- Reimagining of the concert experience with ‘Waterworks’ programme with spectacular projections and atmospheric sound and lighting design.
- ‘Waterworks’ tour in May and August through Denmark and Germany, including concert at the Elbphilharmonie.
- Cooperation with Baltika Group to provide musicians outfits for ‘Waterworks’.
- ‘Baltic Folk’ tour in August through Sweden, Germany and Italy.
- World premiere of Stravinsky’s The Firebird performed entirely by heart.
- 10th year anniversary of the Baltic Sea Philharmonic.
- ‘Waterworks’ tour in the United Emirates with concerts in Dubai and Abu Dhabi as the orchestra’s first performances outside of Europe.
- First performances of an entire concert programme by heart at UAE ‘Waterworks’ concerts.
- ‘Nordic Pulse’ performances in Switzerland, Italy, Germany and Poland.
- ‘Nordic Pulse’ concert tour through Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Russia.
- ‘Midnight Sun’ concert experiences in Germany, Austria and Hungary.
- ‘Divine Geometry’ performances in Italy and Germany with the German premiere of Steve Reich’s Music for Ensemble and Orchestra (co-commissioned by the Baltic Sea Philharmonic with the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra).
- ‘Talent Tour’ to recruit new members with stops in Palanga, Riga, Tallinn, Helsinki, St. Petersburg and Berlin.
- World premiere of Nordic Pulse, a documentary starring the Baltic Sea Philharmonic and Kristjan Järvi at the Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn.
- Joint performance for ‘Channel Aid – Live in Concert’ with British indie band Bastille at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg in January 2020.
- ‘Nordic Pulse’ concert tour through Italy and Germany.
- Launch of ‘Muscial Chain’ with a release of four music videos.
- Album release – Sleeping Beauty – published on Sony Classical.
- ‘Digital Talent Tour’ to recruit new members of the Baltic Sea Philharmonic.
- Romanian debut at the Enescu Festival in Bucharest.
- Album release with Max Richter EXILES.
- ‘Nordic Swans’ concert tour through Italy, Slovenia, Germany, and Poland.
- Successful continuation of ‘Musical Chain’ with the ‘Midnight Sun’ video release and 3 audio releases.
- Debut concerts in Antwerp, Pärnu, Eisenach, Geneva and Bern.
- ‘Nordic Swans’ perforamnces in Belgium, Germany and Poland.
- ‘Nordic Amazonia’ concert at Pärnu Music Festival and ‘The Tempest’ concert experience at Birgitta Festival in Tallinn.
- ‘Meresillad’ tour through Germany and Estonia.
- ‘Nutcracker Reimgined’ performances in Germany and Switzerland.
- Album release ‘Nutcracker. A Dramatic Symphony‘.
