Azernews.Az

By Laman Ismayilova

A creative evening dedicated to the 70th anniversary of an outstanding Latvian violinist Gidon Kremer will be held in Baku.

The world-famous musician will surprise guests with an original concert program at the Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Hall on December 14,Trend Life reported. The concert starts at 19:00.

After the solo performance of the famous Chakona JS Bach, the violinist will perform 24 preludes of one of the talented, but unfortunately, little known composers of the twentieth century Mechislav Weinberg.

The album "Kremerata", featuring Weinberg's works by Gidon Kremer was nominated for the Grammy Award 2015.

The 24 preludes of the composer in the arrangement of Gidon Kremer for violin are accompanied by a video installation from the works of the recognized Lithuanian humanist photographer Antanas Sutkus "In search of lost time".

In the second part of the evening, a video preview of a short film "Images d'Orient - "Pictures from the East", conceived by Gidon Kremer and created by the Georgian director Sandro Kancheli will be presented to the audience.

Inspired by the miniatures of the Syrian sculptor Nizar Ali Badr, it features music of Karlheinz Stockhausen and Robert Schumann, performed by Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica Chamber Orchestra.

Syrian sculptor said that his unique language of sculpture from pebbles should spread happiness and love among war, destruction, death, migration, flight, chaos, poverty and injustice. He is sure that the war will end soon.

Gidon Kremer has gained a worldwide reputation as one of his generation’s most influential and compelling artists. His repertoire encompasses standard classical scores and music by leading twentieth and twenty-first century composers, several of which have been dedicated to him.

His name is closely associated with such composers as Alfred Schnittke, Arvo Pärt, Giya Kancheli, Sofia Gubaidulina, Valentin Silvestrov, Luigi Nono, Edison Denisov, John Adams, Michael Nyman, Philip Glass, Leonid Desyatnikov and Astor Piazzolla, whose works he performs in ways that respect tradition while being fully alive to their freshness and originality.

Gidon has recorded over 120 albums, many of which have received prestigious international awards. His long list of honours and awards include the Ernst von Siemens Musikpreis, Moscow’s Triumph Prize, the Unesco Prize and the Una Vita Nella Musica – Artur Rubinstein Prize, and in 2016 received Praemium Imperiale prize that is widely considered to be the Nobel Prize of music.

In 1997 Gidon Kremer founded the chamber orchestra Kremerata Baltica to foster outstanding young musicians from the Baltic States. The ensemble tours extensively and has recorded almost 30 albums for the Nonesuch, Deutsche Grammophon, Burleske and ECM labels. “After Mozart” (Nonesuch, 2001) received an ECHO prize and a GRAMMY award in 2002, while their recent release on ECM of works by Mieczysław Weinberg was nominated for a GRAMMY in 2015.

This year marks the 70th birthday year of maestro and 20th anniversary of Kremerata Baltica orchestra, which was founded by him. The artists celebrated their double anniversary by successful tours to the cities of Canada, US, Europe, Asia. Concert in Baku is also a part of this world landmark tour.

Media partners of the event are Trend.az, Day.az, Milli.az, Azernews.az

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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