Renowned violinist and Baltic orchestra in Seoul

A chamber orchestra of young musicians from Baltic states led by the renowned solo violinist Gidon Kremer will perform at the Seoul Arts Center on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Grammy-winning Kremerata Baltica orchestra will play the works of modern classical and Russian composers such as Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky and Shostakovich.
Kremer, who is also the orchestra’s founder and artistic director, was born in Riga, Latvia, in 1947 to a German family with a long musical tradition. He began learning violin at the age of four from his father and grandfather, who were both distinguished professional violinists. In 1965, he entered the Moscow Conservatory and studied under David Oistrakh.
Since his debut to the Western world in 1975, Kremer has played all of the world’s major stages and performed with maestros such as Leonard Bernstein, Christoph Eschenbach, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Riccardo Muti, Zubin Mehta, Valery Gergiev and Claudio Abbado. In 1980, to expand his musical freedom, he sought asylum in West Germany.
Kremer is also credited with championing the works of living Russian and Eastern European composers such as Alfred Schnittke, Arvo Part, Giya Kancheli, Valentin Silvestrov and Luigi Nono. Some of the works by these composers will be presented to the audience on Tuesday and Wednesday.
In 1997, he founded the Kremerata Baltica chamber orchestra to foster young musicians from the three Baltic States. The chamber orchestra has performed in Carnegie Hall in New York City, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Philharmonie im Gasteig in Munich, the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, the Royal Albert Hall in London and at major festivals such as the Salzburg Festival. Kremerata Baltica was awarded a Grammy Award in 2002, and was nominated again in 2003.

by Limb Jae-un

The concerts start at 8 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tickets are 20,000 won to 80,000 won. For information, visit www.sac.or.kr.