Baltic Sea Festival begins on August 21

CAIRO – 21 August 2017: Monday, August 21 marks the beginning of the 15th edition of the Baltic Sea Festival, which runs for eight days until August 29. The festival is primarily dedicated to solving environmental issues in the Balkans Sea in Northern Europe, using musical performances and orchestras to educate audiences about the ecological damage occurring there.

The Festival was founded in 2003 by Michael Tydén, former director of the Berwaldhallen concert hall in Sweden, composer and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, and director/conductor of St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre Valery Gergiev.

World-class music will be played in Berwaldhallen during the Baltic Sea Festival. The festival will open with the Opera 'Oepidus Rex', which is directed by Peter Sellars, winner of the Polar Music Prize. Amongst other performances include the Mariinsky Theatre's interpretations of music by Wagner such as ‘Rhinegold,’ to be led by Gergiev.

One performance which is new to the festival is 'Five Seasons', set to be performed by Musica Vitae on August 27. It is a contemporary contrast to the famous 1723 violin concerts by Italian violinist Vivaldi, 'Four Seasons'. Whereas 'Four Seasons' was a marvelous tribute to nature's passage of time through the seasons untouched by man, ‘Five Seasons’ takes a darker look by examining rising global temperatures brought on by manmade climate change, and how it has affected the seasons we so take for granted.

Through music, the Baltic Sea Festival accomplishes its goal of environmental awareness in the most influential way.