About Alion Baltic International Music Festival


Overview, history, and mission.

    • The Alion Baltic International Music Festival is one of the top rapidly developing classical music festivals in Northern Europe, noted for its diverse concert programming and educative summer programs for music students of various nations and ages. Six seasons of the festival (2014-2019) presented masterclasses by internationally acclaimed professors, solo and chamber music concerts in 4 European countries (Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, and Estonia), orchestral performances, subject lectures and career seminars.


    • For the VI consecutive season, The Alion Baltic International Music Festival opens its concert doors to meet the ecstatic audience. Founded by Michael Bulychev-Okser in New York in 2014 with a help and support from Mr. Sten Schwede, Consul General of Estonia in The United States, the festival proved to be a unique musical event, organized on a large-scale international level. Nine days of the festival 2014 presented 21 concerts in Tallinn, Narva, Rakvere, Johvi and other cities around Estonia. The performers were world-recognized pianists and vocalists from Estonia, The United States, Bolivia, Russia, Germany, Japan, Spain, France, China, Greece, Serbia, Taiwan, and Uzbekistan. The Estonian community met it with an overwhelming enthusiasm.

      Continuing its traditions, The Alion Baltic International Music Festival 2015 opened in Tallinn with a triumphal recital by the legendary American pianist, festival Professor, Daniel Pollack. Festival 2015 concerts took place in Tallinn, Parnu, Sillamae, Narva, Tartu, and in Riga, Latvia.
      Cooperating with the Narva Symphony Orchestra, Alion Baltic festival-2015 presented an evening of Mozart, featuring Guest Artists from The United States, Finland, Ukraine, and South Korea. Celebrating the 90th Anniversary of the Estonian Composers Union, one of the festival's concert featured music exclusively by Estonian Composers: Jarvo Part, Lepo Sumera, Mart-Matis Lill, among others.

      Bringing more joy to the hearts of music lovers, Alion Baltic 2016 expanded its geography, producing concerts, excursions, and lectures in 4 countries: Estonia, Latvia, Finland, and Russia.
      Three orchestral Galas of Alion Baltic Season 2016 presented The Sankt-Peterburg Symphony (led by Sergej Stadler) in a devotional program in Memory of Eri Klas, Music from the Movies by the North-Western Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, and the Final Gala concert by Alion Baltic Chamber, featuring music by G. Faure and D. Shostakovich.
      Israel Ensemble Multi-Piano Presented presented works for 8 eights and 2 pianos.
      Led by AB Honorary Guest Artist 2016, Valentina Goncharova, The Alion Baltic String Ensemble presented Schumann's Quintet.
      Daily student concerts presented music by the Alion Baltic 2016 student composers: Kevin Kay and Gregory Houston.
      Star faculty and guest artists 2016 included pianists Daniel Pollack, Oxana Yablonskaya, Pasquale Iannone, Leonel Morales, Lily Dorfman, and Michael Bulychev-Okser; violinists Sergei Stadler, Anastasia de Haan, Leonid Kerbel, Sumiko Tajihi, and Anna Laukhina, Metropolitan Opera Soprano, Olga Makarina, flutist Patrick Dillery, and Percussionist Rein Roos.

      Season 2017 highlights included master classes by Sergei Stadler, Sankt-Peterburg String Quartet, Duet Davide Alogna/Bruno Canino and a Bellini Opera Gala, featuring Molodechno Symphony Orchestra and soloists from Major Opera Houses around the World.

      Season 2018 marked festival's 5th anniversary. Highlights from season 2018 included 3 concerts by Alion Baltic International Orchestra, at the Small Hall of Tallinn Philharmony, and the Pollamae Open Air concert, presented by the city of Tallinn; the concert of Alion Baltic String Quintet, featuring award-winning violinists Anastasia de Haan, EMI artist - Alyssa Margulis, and Internationally acclaimed violinist Sergei Stadler, cellist Aleksandr Bouzlov, and violist Marco Misciagna; the Gala Closing Concert of the festival took place at the Country's most prestigious Hall - Estonia Cocert Hall, featuring Mart Sander, Maria Veretenina, and the Eurovision finalist, Elina Nechayeva, among other artists.

      Season 2019 explored its new location in Riga Latvia. Among numerous masterclasses, Alion Baltic Competition, the highlights of the season included lecture on "Coping with Nerves and anxiety" on stage by Wayne Neo (Singapore), recitals by pianists Pavel Nersessian (Russia), Einar Steen-Noekleberg (Norway) and legendary Dmitri Bashkirov (Spain), 2 Concerts of Alion Baltic orchestra (conductors - Raymonds Gulbis (Latvia) and Gennady Chernov (Finland)) and Gala closing concert featuring cellist Raphael Wallfisch (U.K.), La Scala soprano Denia Gavazzeni, and outstanding protege Laetitia Hahn (Germany). Season concluded with 20 young artists going on concert tour and performing in 3 countries: Lithuania, Estonia, and Finland.

      Alion Baltic Festival collaborated with many established festivals and other organizations.
      Past collaborations included: the annual concert of exclusively Estonian music at Tallinn Town hall; Alion Baltic International Music Competition at Mektory (Estonian Union of Inventors), presenting six-string acoustic viola, a unique innovation of Estonian inventors, led by Gabriel Paasov; collaboration with Tallinn Sea Days Festival (5 concerts in 2016), Tallinn Medieval Days festival and 2017 open-air Opera Gala at Tallinn's Kadriorg Park, with over 1,500 audience in attendance.

    • Concert trips are combined with sight-seeing and take students and guest artists to various destinations around Baltics. Cities include: Palanga (Lithuania), 3-castle trip to Cecis/Sugulda region in Latvia, Pärnu and Tallinn (Estonia), and Temppeliaukio Church, the 750-seat auditorium in the heart of Helsinki, Finland.

      • - Lessons & master classes
      • - Performance opportunities
      • - Chamber Ensembles
      • - Lectures & Seminars
    • Alion Baltic Orchestra is composed of festival students and selected musicians from Estonian & Latvian orchestras. The orchestra functions during the duration of the Alion Baltic festival.

    • The mission of the Alion Baltic International Music Festival is to discover the talents of instrumentalists and vocalists from around the World and to offer performance opportunities in the early stages of their artistic growth.
      The festival is dedicated to initiate cross-cultural exchange, presenting musical traditions of the Baltic countries and those from around the world.



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