National conductor speaks about his collaboration with world-famous violinist

By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

World-famous violinist Gidon Kremer will celebrate his 75th birthday with a spectacular concert in Baku.

The concert will take place at the Heydar Aliyev Center on March 5. The event is organized by Premier LTD.

Together with the famous maestro, renowned violinist Madara Petersone (Latvia) and the Baku Chamber Orchestra will perform on the stage under the baton of the Honored Artist of Azerbaijan Fuad Ibrahimov.

The creative collaboration between Fuad Ibrahimov and world-famous violinist started after Fuad Ibrahimov's victory at the Evgeny Svetlanov International Conducting Competition (2018) held in Paris.

Since then, maestro Kremer has repeatedly invited the conductor both to participate in his performances and in festival concerts organized in different countries.

He also warmly accepted the invitation to perform in Baku together with the Baku Chamber Orchestra conducted by Fuad Ibrahimov.

"For the first time I learned about Gidon Kremer in the distant 90s. Then I came across the book "Fragments of Childhood", written by Gidon Kremer. I just fell in love with this book and read it many times. In his book, maestro speaks about his work and emotional experiences , trips and life, which inspired me a lot. Later, I got my hands on his album "Eight Seasons", recorded with his Kremerata Baltica Orchestra, which also made a deep impression on me," Fuad Ibrahimov told Trend Life.

"Then I could not even imagine that I would not only meet the maestro, but also that he would be at the competition where I participated, and that we would repeatedly perform on the same stage. It makes me feel insanely happy and proud. Now I'm looking forward to a joint performance with the maestro in our city...," he said.

Honored Artist Fuad Ibrahimov added that it's a great responsibility and excitement for him to perform together with the outstanding violinist as the conductor of the Baku Chamber Orchestra.

Driven by his strikingly uncompromising artistic philosophy, Gidon Kremer has established a worldwide reputation as one of his generation's most original and compelling artists.

His wide repertoire encompasses standard classical scores and music by leading 20-21st  century composers.

It is fair to say that no other soloist of comparable international stature has done more to promote the cause of contemporary composers and new music for violin.

His name is closely associated with such composers as Alfred Schnittke, Arvo Part, Giya Kancheli, Sofia Gubaidulina, Valentin Silvestrov, Luigi Nono, Edison Denisov, Aribert Reimann, Peteris Vasks, John Adams, Victor Kissine, Michael Nyman, Philip Glass. Many of them dedicated their works to him, the first performer of which was usually the Maestro himself.

As an international violinist, he performs with the greatest orchestras and the most prestigious conductors, such as Leonard Bernstein, Riccardo Muti, Claudio Abbado, Lorin Maazel, Herbert von Karajan, Nikolaus Arnoncourt or Seiji Ozawa.

In 1997 Gidon Kremer founded the chamber orchestra Kremerata Baltica to gather outstanding young musicians from the Baltic States. During its existence, the orchestra has toured to more than 50 countries.

Together the ensemble performed such outstanding performers of our time as Jesse Norman, Mikhail Pletnev, Thomas Zeitmeier, Yo-Yo Ma and many others. The musicians recorded over 50 CDs, for one of which in 2002 the orchestra was awarded two prestigious prizes - GRAMMY and ECHO.

Gidon Kremer has recorded over 120 albums, many of which have received prestigious international awards such as Ernst von Siemens Musikpreis, the Bundesverdienstkreuz, Moscow's Triumph Prize, the Unesco Prize and the Una Vita Nella Musica – Artur Rubinstein Prize.

In addition, in 2016, the Emperor of Japan awarded him the Imperial Praemium Prize, equivalent to the Nobel Prize in the music.

This year is also marked by the 25th anniversary of the Kremerata Baltica orchestra, founded by Gidon Kremer.

Cultural figures will celebrate their double anniversary with numerous concerts in the cities of Canada, America, Europe, Asia.

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