BYP to Begin Its Fourth Season
21 июля 2011 г.
The Baltic Youth Philharmonic (BYP) will begin its fourth season on July 24 in Kaunas, Lithuania. The BYP unites about 90 highly talented students from the 10 states of the Baltic Sea region. Under the baton of Music Director Kristjan Järvi and together with soloist Mikhail Simonyan (violin), the orchestra will give a total of nine concerts in eight countries.
Angela Merkel, Federal Chancellor of Germany, has taken on the patronage of the entire fourth season of the BYP. Since July 1, 2011, Germany has assumed its one-year presidency of the Council of the Baltic Sea States.
In her message of greeting to the orchestra, Angela Merkel writes: "The Baltic Youth Philharmonic is a wonderful ambassador for the cultural cooperation of the countries bordering the Baltic Sea. [...] In its current Presidency, Germany wishes to advance cooperation mainly in questions of business and energy, ecological issues, the area of civil security and not least in education and culture. This is another reason why I am pleased to take on the patronage of this year's tour of the Baltic Youth Philharmonic."
2011 Tour Dates
After the tour begins in Lithuania (Kaunas, Pazaislio Festival, July 30), appearances in Russia (Kaliningrad, Sobor Cathedral, July 31), Poland (Szczecin, Filharmonia, August 1), Denmark (Copenhagen, Tivoli, August 6), Sweden (Stockholm, Baltic Sea Festival, September 2) and Estonia (Tallinn, Arvo Pärt Festival, September 4) will follow. For the first time, the orchestra, a joint initiative of the Usedom Music Festival and Nord Stream AG, will also be heard in Italy (Merano, Merano Musik Festival, September 6; Milano, MiTo SettembreMusica, September 8), and finishes its season on October 1 in Peenemünde at the 18th Usedom Music Festival.
In 2011, BYP cooperates for the first time with the Danish Radio. Before the concert at Copenhagen's Tivoli Concert Hall (August 6), the orchestra will rehearse and record at the new concert hall of the Danish Radio. During the coming years, performances at the new concert hall are planned. In addition, members of the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra will coach the BYP musicians during the coming years. For the future, further cooperation projects with other major European symphony orchestras are planned.
Cooperation with Danish Radio
During the rehearsal phase, also known as "BYP Lab", in Kaunas (July 23-29), the young musicians will rehearse a demanding repertoire with Kristjan Järvi and ten experienced docents: apart from classical works like Sergei Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5, Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5, the Violin Concertos by Piotr I. Tchaikovsky and Carl Nielsen, the orchestra dedicates itself especially to composition from the Baltic Sea Region. Thus, the Baltic Youth Philharmonic will perform the symphonic poem In the Forest by Mikalojus K. Čiurlionis and its signature program, entitled Baltic Voyage. It includes some rarely-heard works by composers from the ten nations of the Baltic Sea Region, including Hugo Alfvén, Ole Bull, Eduard Tubin as well as Imants Kalnins and Wojciech Kilar. In addition, the orchestra performs parkour musical by Daniel Schnyder, commissioned in 2010 by and for the Baltic Youth Philharmonic.
Additional training opportunities for conductors and composers flank this music education project of the Baltic Sea area. Apart from orchestral practice, the musicians will have opportunities to dedicate themselves to chamber music works in smaller ensembles, which will be performed within the tours.
This year's members of the Baltic Youth Philharmonic were selected in February and March during a seven-day Auditions Tour. About 400 applicants auditioned in Berlin, Gothenburg, Tallinn, Vilnius, St. Petersburg and Copenhagen. The musicians must be current students at a music academy in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland or Germany, or be citizens of these countries and study music elsewhere.
