In 1997, Austria’s legendary Lockenhaus chamber music festival was witness to a small revolution when, beside many distinguished musicians, the violinist Gidon Kremer presented a brand new orchestra: Kremerata Baltica, comprising 24 young players from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, conquered the discerning audience, injecting new blood into the festival with their exuberance, energy and joy in playing, Kremerata Baltica, an educational project with a long-term vision, was Kremer’s 50th birthday present to himself: a way of passing on his wisdom to young colleagues from the Baltic states while making no compromises on artistic standards as he nurtured and inspired musical life in the region.

The talented group of musicians soon developed into a world-class professional ensemble and has cemented its international reputation in major concert venues around the world. In last 13 years, Kremerata Baltica have played in more than 50 countries, performing in  600 cities and given around 1000 concerts also in Japan, Australia, the USA, Latin America, Russia and all around Europe. ... read full bio

In 1997, Austria’s legendary Lockenhaus chamber music festival was witness to a small revolution when, beside many distinguished musicians, the violinist Gidon Kremer presented a brand new orchestra: Kremerata Baltica, comprising 24 young players from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, conquered the discerning audience, injecting new blood into the festival with their exuberance, energy and joy in playing, Kremerata Baltica, an educational project with a long-term vision, was Kremer’s 50th birthday present to himself: a way of passing on his wisdom to young colleagues from the Baltic states while making no compromises on artistic standards as he nurtured and inspired musical life in the region.

The talented group of musicians soon developed into a world-class professional ensemble and has cemented its international reputation in major concert venues around the world. In last 13 years, Kremerata Baltica have played in more than 50 countries, performing in  600 cities and given around 1000 concerts also in Japan, Australia, the USA, Latin America, Russia and all around Europe.

The orchestra is supported by the governments of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Its members, all outstanding musical personalities, are selected through a rigorous auditioning process and play as a stable ensemble. Among the celebrated soloists with whom Kremerata Baltica has played are soprano Jessye Norman, pianists Mikhail Pletnev, Yevgeny Kissin and Oleg Maisenberg, violinists Thomas Zehetmair and Vadim Repin and cellists Boris Pergamenshikov and Yo-Yo Ma; conductors have included Sir Simon Rattle, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Christoph Eschenbach, Kent Nagano, Heinz Holliger and Vladimir Ashkenazy. Each of these musicians has contributed to shaping the chamber orchestra.

Essential to Kremerata Baltica’s artistic personality is its creative approach to programming, which often looks beyond the mainstream and has given rise to numerous world premieres of works by composers such as Kancheli, Vasks, Desyatnikov and Raskatov. The orchestra’s wide-ranging and carefully chosen repertoire is also showcased in its many and much-praised CD recordings, such as Eight Seasons, pairing Vivaldi’s set of concertos with Piazzolla’s Argentinian sequence, and Silencio, compositions by contemporary composers: Pärt, Glass und Martynov. After Mozart, a 21st century take on the composer, won an internationally coveted Grammy Award, while Mozart’s five violin concertos, recorded live at the Salzburg Festival in 2006, his 200th anniversary year, have been released on the Nonesuch label. In conjuction with the orchestra’s 2010 US tour Nonesuch label will release the next recording entitled “De Profundis”.

Audio Clip

String Quartet No. 15 in G, D. 887: III. Scherzo. Allegro vivace - Trio. Allegretto courtesy of ECM Records (Universal).

Last updated June 2010. Contact Opus 3 Artists for the most up-to-date version.