Kremerata Baltica

The orchestra was formed as an educational project with a long-term vision - a way of passing on Gidon Kremer’s rich artistic experience to younger colleagues from the Baltic States, at the same time promoting and inspiring the cultural life of the Baltics.

In few years the talented group of musicians has developed into one of the most prominent chamber orchestras in Europe.

Kremerata Baltica performs around 70 concerts annually during tours throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas. During its career the orchestra visited many festivals - Salzburg Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, the Prague Spring, The Proms, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, etc. Kremerata Baltica also holds its own Festival in Sigulda, Latvia since 2003.

While the majority of the concerts are led by and performed with Gidon Kremer, Kremerata Baltica has appeared with artists like soprano Jessye Norman; pianists Martha Argerich, Mikhail Pletnev, Evgeny Kissin, Oleg Maisenberg, Daniil Trifonov; violinists Thomas Zehetmair, Vadim Repin, Tatiana Grindenko; cellists Boris Pergamenschikov, Yo-Yo Ma, Mischa Maisky, David Geringas; conductors include Sir Simon Rattle, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Christoph Eschenbach, Kent Nagano, Heinz Holliger, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla.

In recent seasons the ensemble has pushed back the boundaries of its work to include events such as “To Russia with Love”, a concert staged at Berlin’s Philharmonie in 2013 to promote the cause of human rights in Russia, and “All About Gidon”, a part-scenic autobiographical show in which Gidon Kremer performs works close to his heart and speaks about the life and career of an artist. Since 2013 Kremerata Baltica and Gidon Kremer have partnered the famous Russian clown and mime artist Slava Polunin and his Academy of Fools in ”Snow Symphony”, a joint project based on Polunin’s pioneering “Snowshow”. In 2015 the ensemble launched its creative project “Masks and Faces”, collaboration between Gidon Kremer and the Russian painter, polemicist and philosopher Maxim Kantor. The latest Kremerata Baltica project “Pictures from the East” is a joint venture with a Syrian artist, Nizar Ali Badr, which focuses on the dramatic situation in the Middle East and the current refugee problem.

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 Arvo Pärt, Giya Kancheli, Pēteris Vasks, Leonid Desyatnikov, Alexander Raskatov, Artūrs Maskats. The chamber orchestra is supported by the governments of three Baltic States – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. Wikipedia