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Nominations in eight categories, including ‘Ensemble/Orchestra of the Year’, ‘Symphonic Recording of the Year’, ‘Innovative Concert of the Year’ and ‘Conductor of the Year’
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Nominations of Baltic Sea Philharmonic and Kristjan Järvi based on Sony Classical albums Sleeping Beauty and Glass & Stravinsky Violin Concertos as well as BMG album Nordic Escapes
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Orchestra plans 2021 tours after gradual reopening of cultural life
Berlin 7 June 2021. The Baltic Sea Philharmonic and Kristjan Järvi have been nominated in eight categories for the OPUS KLASSIK 2021, the new prize for classical music in Germany. No fewer than three albums by the orchestra and its Founding Conductor – Sleeping Beauty and Glass & Stravinsky Violin Concertos, both released on Sony Classical in 2020, as well as the BMG album Nordic Escapes (2020) – are nominated in various categories. Such broad recognition is a reward for the Baltic Sea Philharmonic’s passionate and creative work in a year full of challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With Sleeping Beauty, a new arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s famous ballet music as a 70-minute dramatic symphony by Kristjan Järvi, the Baltic Sea Philharmonic has been selected in the categories ‘Ensemble/Orchestra of the Year’ and ‘Symphonic Recording of the Year’. Kristjan Järvi is nominated as ‘Conductor of the Year’ with all three albums and also as ‘Composer of the Year’ with Nordic Escapes. The Baltic Sea Philharmonic also made it into the ‘Concerto Recording of the Year’ category with Glass & Stravinsky Violin Concertos, for which the young Swiss violinist David Nebel, the soloist on the album, was also nominated in the ‘Young Artist of the Year’ category. Kristjan Järvi’s album Nordic Escapes is further nominated in the categories as ‘Innovative Concert of the Year’ and ‘Classic without Limits’.
An independent jury for the OPUS KLASSIK 2021 will select the winners of the 25 award categories by October. The festive awards ceremony will take place with a TV gala at the Konzerthaus Berlin on 10 October. The OPUS KLASSIK is awarded annually by the Association for the Promotion of Classical Music. Its members include labels, promoters, publishers and individuals from the classical music world.
Ahead in 2021: Enescu Festival in Bucharest and ‘Nordic Swans’ tour
As cultural life gradually opens up again, the Baltic Sea Philharmonic is looking forward to touring again soon in 2021. The orchestra, together with Kristjan Järvi, is preparing for its debut in Romania in August, where it will perform two concerts at the prestigious Enescu Festival in Bucharest. These will be the orchestra’s first live performances since September 2020, after unavoidable disruptions due to the pandemic. In Bucharest, the Baltic Sea Philharmonic will collaborate for the first time with world-renowned pianist Maria João Pires and leading violinist Victoria Mullova in two different programmes: ’Aurora’ (30 August) and ‘Nordic Swans’ (31 August). After two days of rehearsals in Bucharest and depending on the course of the pandemic and the status of local authority regulations, the ‘Nordic Swans’ tour will begin at the Merano Music Festival on 3 September. Among the highlights of this tour are the ensemble’s Slovenian debut in an open-air concert in Ljubljana on 6 September, and a special concert at the Usedom Music Festival on 11 September. ‘Nordic Swans’ celebrates its grand finale in Szczecin on 12 September with the orchestra’s debut in the Philharmonic Hall, which was built only a few years ago.
Baltic Sea Philharmonic – a revolution in music and culture
The Baltic Sea Philharmonic takes the orchestral concert experience to a new dimension. Every performance is a voyage of musical discovery, as the musicians perform the entire programme from memory, creating a one-of-a-kind artistic journey. Each concert is a unique spectacle of sound, light, visual art, technology, choreography and playing by heart, and under the electrifying baton of Music Director and Founding Conductor Kristjan Järvi every performance has a special energy that is absolutely infectious. But even more than this, as a community of musicians from ten Nordic countries, the Baltic Sea Philharmonic transcends 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 Järvi.
