Concert series 2017/18 now on sale!
05. June 2017.
The 91st season of the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra offers a range of brilliant soloists and conductors any orchestra or concert hall would be proud to have in their season programme.
We have divided our concerts into seven series, each of which has its own face and style. However, there is always one common quality: the best audience deserves a fascinating programme and the best performances from top artists in their field. The premier orchestra of Estonia offers just that.
ROMANTICISM
Presented by Reval Café
The “Romanticism” concert series offers audiences several of the most beautiful pieces of music from the Romantic period. Soloists in front of the orchestra are Zee Zee, the Chinese pianist and winner of the Queen Elisabeth Competition, and Dana Zemtsov, one of the most dazzling viola talents of her generation. The opening concert of the season is conducted by Neeme Järvi, the principal conductor and artistic director of the orchestra, while the conductor at the concert “Carnival” is Daniel Raiskin, the guest principal conductor of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra. You can also enjoy romantic music performed by ENSO chamber ensembles.
Friday 15 September 2017 – SEASON OPENING CONCERT, conductor NEEME JÄRVI
Friday 15 December 2017 – CARNIVAL, conductor DANIEL RAISKIN
Friday 9 February 2018 – ROMANTIC CHAMBER MUSIC, ENSO chamber ensembles
Series tickets for the “Romanticism” concert series: 42€ / 30€ (available until 13.09.2017)
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MAESTRO
Presented by AUDI
The “Maestro” concert series is a true parade of stars: conducting for the first time in Estonia are Thomas Zehetmair, the internationally recognized Austrian violinist and conductor, as well as Robert Trevino, a younger generation American conductor who has quickly gained international recognition and will start his second season as the principal conductor of the Basque National Orchestra. They are seconded by Olari Elts, the guest principal conductor at ENSO, who is often praised for his excellent skills in concert programming as well as his irresistible energy and joy in music-making. Soloists include Baiba Skride, the Latvian violinist working with the world’s best orchestras, here performing Eller’s violin concerto, and Irina Zakharenkova, one of the most original pianists in Estonia, who will perform Schumann’s Piano Concerto.
Friday 13 October 2017 – ZEHETMAIR AND MENDELSSOHN, conductor THOMAS ZEHETMAIR
Friday 17 November 2017 – ELTS AND SKRIDE, conductor OLARI ELTS
Friday 22 December 2017 – TREVINO AND BRUCKNER, conductor ROBERT TREVINO
Series tickets for the “Maestro” concert series: 42€ / 30€ (available until 11.10.2017)
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HARMONY
Presented by E-piim
Concerts in the “Harmony” series are conducted by the principal conductor and artistic director at ENSO, Neeme Järvi and his younger son Kristjan Järvi, who is known for his dashing and innovative ideas. Kristjan Järvi is the principal conductor of the Leipzig MDR Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Gstaad Festival Orchestra as well as the founding member and conductor of the Absolute Ensemble and the Baltic Sea Philharmonic.
The soloists in Brahms’ Double Concerto are Anna-Liisa Bezrodny, the best known Estonian violin soloist, and Jan-Erik Gustafsson, one of the most outstanding cello soloists in Finland. The two musicians can often be seen performing together on stages all over the world. The concert “The Brilliant Flute” is dedicated to the 85th anniversary of Samuel Saulus, the most distinguished and influential Estonian wind instrument player of all times. Soloists at Mozart’s Flute Concerto and Flute and Harp Concerto are Clara Andrada de la Calle, the solo flutist with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, and solo harpist with ENSO, Assia Cunego. Carried by the idea of artistic synthesis, the concert “Ring” in the programme of ENSO’s end of season festival “Practical Spirituality” combines the grandiose work of two German composers, Richard Wagner and Sven Helbig.
Friday 3 November 2017 – DOUBLE CONCERTO, conductor NEEME JÄRVI
Friday 4 May 2018 – BRILLIANT FLUTE: SAMUEL SAULUS 85, conductor NEEME JÄRVI
Thursday 24 May 2018 – RING, Festival “Practical Spirituality”, conductor KRISTJAN JÄRVI
Series tickets for the “Harmony” concert series: 42€ / 30€ (available until 1.11.2017)
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PIANO CONCERTO
Presented by Liviko
For the first time, the ENSO concert series also include a special treat for all piano music lovers.
Denis Kozuhkhin, a pianist from Nizhny Novgorod, who has made his way up to the world’s most reputed concert halls, has won first prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition among many other awards. He now works with the world’s top orchestras and conductors. In Tallinn he will perform Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3.
The young Estonian pianist, Auli Lonks, became known to Estonian audiences when participating in the first season of the TV show “Klassikatähed” (Classical Stars). She recently won first prize at a competition of instrumental soloists at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre Symphony Orchestra. With ENSO and the EAMT Symphony Orchestra she will perform Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major.
Born in Kharkiv and currently living in New York, Anna Shelest has been praised by the New York Times for her “fiery sensibility and warm touch” in piano playing, as well as for her excellent sense of partnership with an orchestra. In Tallinn she will perform Rubinstein’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with ENSO, conducted by Neeme Järvi.
The piano concerto with an intriguing title “Century Rolls” by the American composer John Adams embraces, according to the composer himself, the piano music of the entire previous century, while being mainly inspired by the sounds of the pianola, the self-playing piano that became popular at the beginning of the 20th century. The soloist, the Icelandic Víkingur Ólafsson is one of the most original younger generation pianists who represents a rare combination of passionate musicality, explosive virtuosity and intellectual curiosity.
Friday 20 October 2017 – SHOSTAKOVICH AND PROKOFIEV, conductor NIKOLAI ALEXEEV
Friday 27 April 2018 – DVOŘÁK AND RAVEL, conductor PAUL MÄGI
Friday 11.05.2018 – BEETHOVEN AND RUBINSTEIN, conductor NEEME JÄRVI
Friday 18 May 2018 – CENTURY ROLLS, Festival “Practical Spirituality”, conductor KRISTJAN JÄRVI
Series tickets for the “Piano Concerto” series: 55€ / 40€ (available until 18.10.2017)
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MUSIC OF THE FUTURE
Presented by 4 Energia
The “Music of the Future” concert series collaborates with three innovative cross-border music festivals: AFEKT International Modern Music Festival, Estonian Music Days and the ENSO end of season festival “Practical Spirituality”. The Swiss conductor Baldur Brönnimann mainly focuses on contemporary music that poses fascinating and complex challenges; Risto Joost is the multi-talented principal conductor of the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and the Leipzig MDR Radio Choir, the artistic director of the Tallinn Philharmonic Society and the Birgitta Festival and conductor of the Estonian National Opera.
Two concerts in the “Music of the Future” series will be conducted by Kristjan Järvi. The first, “I Eat the Sun and Drink the Rain”, a composition by the German electronic musician Sven Helbig, will be performed by Voces Musicales and the composer himself. In December, Kristjan Järvi will conduct the performance of an extraordinary composition that combines economy with music. “Regular Crisis” is a film with a live soundtrack that has been called a cantata on the global economy. Appearing on a film screen set up in the Estonia Concert Hall, Steve Forbes, José Ángel Gurría, Manfred Bischoff and other key figures in global industry and finance share their thoughts on the current state and future vision of the economy. Tensions will be added and relieved by the music composed by Louis Andriessen, Bryce Dessner, Jonny Greenwood, Kristjan Järvi and others.
Friday 27 October 2017 – RITUALS: Opening concert of the AFEKT Festival, conductor BALDUR BRÖNNIMANN
Friday 1 December 2017 – REGULAR CRISIS, conductor KRISTJAN JÄRVI
Friday 13 April 2018 – HOLY MAGMA: Estonian Music Days, conductor RISTO JOOST
Tuesday 22 May 2018 – I EAT THE SUN AND DRINK THE RAIN, Festival “Practical Spirituality”, Voces Musicales, conductor KRISTJAN JÄRVI
Series tickets for the “Music of the Future” series: 55 € / 40 € (available until 25.10.2017)
BUY A SERIES TICKET (Series tickets for the “Music of the Future” series are available upon buying a voucher with a code that can be used to obtain tickets to all four concerts in the series.)
CITY LIGHTS
Presented by Radisson Blu
This season you can enjoy the bright shine of big city lights with ENSO at four different concerts. The concert “Tallinn → Ann Arbor” will fly Estonia’s premier orchestra on tour in the United States for the third time, and “Tallinn → Shanghai” to China and Hong Kong. The concerts are conducted by Arvo Volmer, the former principal conductor of ENSO and the current principal conductor of the Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento, and Leif Segerstam, one of the most renowned Finnish conductors who regularly works as a guest conductor with symphony orchestras all over the world and conducts performances in the New York Metropolitan Opera, London Royal Opera House, La Scala in Milan and others. In recent years Segerstam has been working as the principal conductor of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra.
Paris and Los Angeles, metropolises of Europe and the United States, are brought to audiences through the compositions by Igor Stravinsky. It was in these two cities that the cosmopolitan composer lived for the longest time.
One of the most original younger generation pianists, Víkingur Ólafsson, comes to Tallinn from Reykjavik, Iceland, the northernmost capital of the world, bringing Estonian and Icelandic musicians and music together on stage.
Friday 8 December 2017 – PARIS AND LOS ANGELES, conductor NIKOLAI ALEXEEV
Friday 19 January 2017 – TALLINN → ANN ARBOR, conductor ARVO VOLMER
Friday 9 March 2018 – TALLINN → SHANGHAI, conductor LEIF SEGERSTAM
Sunday 20 May 2018 – FROM ICE TO EST, Festival “Practical Spirituality”, ENSO chamber ensembles and pianist Víkingur Ólafsson
Series tickets for the “City Lights” concert series: 55€ / 40€ (available until 6.12.2017)
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FESTIVAL “PRACTICAL SPIRITUALITY”
“Practical Spirituality” is ENSO’s end of season festival which demonstrates the ability of a symphony orchestra to bring together music and musicians more broadly than allowed by the usual format of concerts on Friday evenings. The initial concept for ENSO and Kristjan Järvi was the search for meaning and transcendence in music and the idea of music as a means for perceiving religion, cosmic vibrations and harmony. A festival of the same name was already held in June 2017 in Leipzig, with the Leipzig MDR Radio Symphony Orchestra as the main partner for Kristjan Järvi, the leader of the festival.
The charisma of Kristjan Järvi, the fascinating repertoire and soloists performing for the first time in Estonia (the Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson and the German composer, producer, arranger and electronic musician Sven Helbig) will guarantee a freshness and energetic charge for the festival.
Friday 18 May 2018 – CENTURY ROLLS, conductor KRISTJAN JÄRVI
Sunday 20 May 2018 – FROM ICE TO EST, ENSO chamber ensembles and pianist Víkingur Ólafsson
Tuesday 22 May 2018 – I EAT THE SUN AND DRINK THE RAIN, Voces Musicales, conductor KRISTJAN JÄRVI
Thursday 24 May 2018 – RING, conductor KRISTJAN JÄRVI
Festival pass: 55€ / 40€ (available until 1.05.2018)
BUY A FESTIVAL PASS (Festival passes are available upon buying a voucher with a code that can be used to obtain tickets to all four concerts of the festival.)