The Baltic Sea Festival (August 28–September 4, 2016) was founded in 2003 by Michael Tydén, former director of Berwaldhallen in Stockholm, Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor and composer, Valery Gergiev, conductor and director of the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. The Baltic Sea Festival operates in three main areas in order to create a better future for the Baltic Sea region— music, environment and leadership. Taglined “for inner and outer well-being,” the Baltic Sea Festival follows the guideline that music can serve as a good platform to initiate discussions that can solve large and difficult questions, especially those that can only be solved jointly.
Held as always at Berwaldhallen in Stockholm, Sweden, the 2016 Baltic Sea Festival featured the Swedish premiere of Henryk Mikolaj Gorecki’s Symphony No. 4 “Tansman Episodes” on August 29, as performed by the Polish Baltic Philharmonic. Entitled “Polish music grandeur,” the program also included Grażyna Bacewicz’s Divertimento and featured violin soloist Alena Baeva. The Polish Baltic Philharmonic was led by their Artistic Director, Maestro Ernst van Tiel.
[Sources: pwm.com.pl, sverigesradio.se]