Artists in Residence at Norrköping Festival & Forum 21
Gidon Kremer, violin
Among the world’s leading violinists, Gidon Kremer has perhaps pursued the most unconventional career. After studies in his homeland Latvia he went on to study with David Oistrakh at the Moscow Conservatory. After winning a series of prestigious awards Gidon Kremer won first prize in both the 1969 Paganini and 1970 Tchaikovsky International Competitions.
Over the past five decades he has established and sustained a worldwide reputation as one of the most original and compelling artists of his generation. He has appeared on almost every major concert stage as recitalist and with the most celebrated orchestras of Europe and North America, and has worked with many of the greatest conductors of the past half century.
Gidon Kremer’s repertoire is unusually wide and strikingly varied. It encompasses the full span of classical and romantic masterworks for violin, together with music by leading twentieth and twenty-first century composers such as Berg, Henze and Stockhausen. He has also championed the work of living Russian and Eastern European composers and has performed many important new compositions by them, several of which have been dedicated to him.
An exceptionally prolific recording artist, Gidon Kremer has made over 120 albums. Many of these have received prestigious international awards and prizes in recognition of his exceptional interpretative insights.
Kremerata Baltica Chamber Orchestra, founded 1997 by Gidon Kreme
A passion for transfering knowledge and musical insights to young musicians led to gathering outstanding musicians from the three Baltic countries – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – to a Chamber Orchestra. Kremerata Baltica and its founder have toured extensively together over nearly three decades, appearing at the world’s leading festivals and concert venues. They have also recorded more than 20 albums for the Teldec, Nonesuch, Burleske, Deutsche Grammophon and ECM labels.
In February 2002 Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica received the Grammy Award in the “Best Small Ensemble Performance” category for After Mozart on Nonesuch; Their 2014 release on ECM of works by Mieczysław Weinberg was nominated for a Grammy in 2015.
To mark the 70th birthday of the violinist, Deutsche Grammophon issued a limited CD Box in October 2016 – a total of 22 CDs of complete recordings of violin concertos for the label with two extraordinary concept albums by Kremerata Baltica, including the premiere recording of Schnittke’s Concerto for Three. ECM New Series marked the occasion with a new album of all Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s chamber symphonies, released in January 2017, recorded together with Kremerata Baltica.
In 2019 and 2021, Deutsche Grammophon and Accentus Music released albums recorded by and with Gidon Kremer with orchestral and chamber music works by Mieczyslaw Weinberg.
Gidon Kremer plays an instrument made by Nicola Amati in 1641. He is the author of four books, of which the latest is ”Letters to a Young Pianist” (2013). These writings have been translated into many languages and reflect the breadth of his artistic pursuits and aesthetic outlook.
Gidon Kremer presents outstanding young musicians
At the festival Gidon Kremer is presenting two outstanding young cellists, Magdalena Ceple and Luka Coetzee.
Planting music in hearts and veins, attending open rehearsals and then concerts!
Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica invite our audience to follow rehearsals ahead of concerts. They will perform three evening concerts during the festival with works of such divers composers as Pēteris Vasks, Joseph Haydn, Felix Mendelssohn, Tālivaldis Ķeniņš, Wojciech Kilar, Dmitri Shostakovich, Giovanni Sollima, Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Mieczysław Weinberg, Jēkabs Jančevskis and Giya Kancheli.
These are programs where some of the music is unknown for many. Gidon Kremer is welcoming our audience to get to know this music, not just in concerts but also by attending and listening to rehearsals where the music is shaped. Having attended rehearsals and then listening to concerts where this music is performed is an experience where the music is allowed to enter under the skin.