The Baltic Sea Festival 2009: 28 August - 3 September in Stockholm

"I'm extremely happy that the Baltic Sea Festival concept has become so generally accepted ��� that there is so much enthusiasm about it and that the public have really found their way to us. This year's programme is really exciting, especially as we have again gained some 'new friends', who are coming to Stockholm for the first time", says Esa-Pekka Salonen.

For the seventh year in a row, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Valery Gergiev and Michael Tyd��n will present the Baltic Sea Festival (28 August ��� 3 September 2009) and follow their concept of linking topics relevant to society with outstanding concerts presenting musicians, composers, orchestras and choirs from around the Baltic Sea and the whole world. As in previous years, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is one of the Baltic Sea Festival's partners and is organising a seminar on the collaboration of Baltic Sea issues.

"We believe that culture and music can be important channels through which to build a sustainable society together. With the Baltic Sea Festival we wish to mark the positive collaboration between countries and people!", says the Manager of Berwaldhallen, Michael Tyd��n

This year's festival program will focus on the Year of Remembrance and Peace, amongst others. It exploits the relationship between Sweden and Finland in various ways, including two concerts with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and works by Finnish and Swedish composers like Jean Sibelius, Kaija Saariaho and Anders Hillborg, amongst others. The World Orchestra for Peace will be visiting Stockholm for the first time to honour and commemorate human suffering during the Second World War. Valery Gergiev will be conducting. The final concert will see Berwald Concert Hall's own chief conductor Daniel Harding together with Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir performing Verdi's Requiem.

Esa-Pekka Salonen will open the festival with the European premiere of his own violin concerto which is dedicated to the soloist of the evening, Leila Josefowicz, and has been premiered during his final concert series in Los Angeles. The programme will be completed with Stravinsky's "Oedipus Rex".

The festival also presents additional concerts in Helsinki and St Petersburg as well as a "mini-festival" in Brussels.

Please find the detailed program of this year's festival below and here: http://www.pr2classic.de/newsartist.cfm?LID=1&AID=33&TASK=SINGLE&PNID=1712

Baltic Sea Festival 2009 ��� program

28 August, 7.30pm, Stockholm, Berwaldhallen ��� Opening concert

Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Esa-Pekka Salonen

Salonen: Violin Concerto (European premiere)

Stravinsky: Oedipus rex

Leila Josefowicz ��� Violin

Jorma Silvasti ��� King Oedipus

Jekaterina Gubanova ��� Iokaste

NN ��� Kreon

Stephen Milling - Teiresias

29 August, 3pm, Stockholn, Adolf Fredriks kyrka

Swedish Radio Choir, Peter Dijkstra

Music by Sven-David Sandstr��m and Frank Martin

29 August, 8pm, Stockholm, Berwaldhallen

Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, John Storg��rds

Program TBA

30 August, 3pm, Stockholm, Berwaldhallen

Helsinki Philharmonic, John Storg��rds

Hillborg: Exquisite Corpse

Hakola: Uruppf��rande

Klami: Tseremissil��inen Fantasia

Saariaho: Asteorid 4179: Toutatis

Sibelius: Symphony No. 2

Samulti Peltonen, Cello

31 August, 7.30pm, Stockholm, Berwaldhallen

Sankt-Christopher Chamber Orchestra, Donatas Katkus

Mendelssohn: String Symphony No. 12

Tamulionis: Toccata diavolesca

Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 1

Serksnyte: De profundis

Shostakovich: Chamber Symphony for strings op 110a

Mikkel Futtrup, violin

1 September, 6pm, Stockholm, Berwaldhallen
Sinfonia Varsovia, Jacek Kaspszyk
Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2

Brahms: Symphony No. 2

Roland P��ntinen, Piano

1 September, 9pm, Stockholm, Storkyrkan, European Workshop for Contemporary Music

Ensemble with musicians from Poland, Germany and Russia, Szymon Bywalec

Schleiermacher: Gesang des Apsyrtos

Zubel: Cascando

G��recki: Musiquette No. 4

Zych: Kaspar Hauser's Friends

Gubajdulina: Reflections on the theme B-A-C-H

Agata Zubel, Soprano

2 September, 7.30pm, Stockholm, Berwaldhallen

World Orchestra for Piece, Valery Gergiev

Penderecki: New Work

Mahler: Symphony No. 5

3 September, 7.30pm, Stockholm, Berwaldhallen ��� Final Concert

Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Choir, Daniel Harding

Verdi: Requiem

Anja Kampe ��� Soprano, Michelle DeYoung ��� Mezzo-Soprano, NN ��� Tenor, Michail Petrenko ��� Bass

Rumon Gamba

Rumon Gamba becomes Chief Conductor in Ume��

The British conductor Rumon Gamba will be the next Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Symphony Orchestra at NorrlandsOperan in Ume��, Sweden.

���With Rumon Gamba as Chief Conductor and Music Director we will strengthen our artistic strategy. His ability to enthuse, to work with both musical wholeness and detail will make our orchestra take at least one step further in its' artistic development, says Marco Feklistoff, Manager of the Symphony Orchestra at NorrlandsOperan.

Rumon Gamba is currently Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and guest conducts widely within Europe and abroad. Last year he made a guest appearance at NorrlandsOperan conducting English music, a concert that made such an impression that he later was asked to take on the artistic responsibility of the orchestra. An offer that he gladly accepted.

��� This is such an interesting place. The quality of the orchestra is already excellent and there is so much under one roof ��� dance, music, opera, visual arts... I look forward to doing things cross discipline, rather than just running an orchestra. People here are very forward thinking, says Rumon Gamba.

Rumon Gambas' assignment

Rumon Gambas' assignment at NorrlandsOperan starts in july 2009 and continues until June 2012. Within these three years he has the opportunity to conduct one opera per year and six concerts per year. He will also be a leading member of the artistic directorate deciding on repertoire both regarding opera and concert. He will also be in charge of the artistic development of the Symphony Orchestra.