Biography

The Nordic Symphony Orchestra (NSO) is an international symphony orchestra. The NSO was founded by Anu and Kadri Tali in 1997 under the name Estonian - Finnish Symphony Orchestra, to develop cultural contacts between Estonia and Finland. The following TV channels have made documentaries of the orchestra and its conductor Anu Tali : YLE, ARTE, ARD, Deutsche Welle, Japan NHK. Today the NSO has members from fifteen countries; in bringing together musicians from the world’s leading orchestras, the NSO seeks to improve the level of its music-making by blending the best qualities of different instrumental schools and traditions. Presenting the best of classical repertoire as well as contemporary and less well-known music, the NSO also seeks to attract the attention of audiences without simplifying the contents of its programs. To this end, the themed concert seasons, such as The Musical Capitals of the World (1998/1999), Life and Death (1999/2000), Symphony (2000/2001), Musica Grande (2001/2002), Passion or Passion (2002/2003), A la Russe (2003/2004), Face of North (2004/2005), Legends (2005/2006), Apocalypse (2006/2007), “Strata” 2007/2008 and “Meetingpoint Estonia” 2009/ 2010 have proven highly successful and established for the orchestra an innovative profile.

Recordings

The NSO has released two recordings: “Swan Flight” (Finlandia Records/Warner Music 2001) and “Action Passion. Illusion” (Warner Music 2005). Every concert of the NSO is recorded and broadcasted by the Estonian Broadcasting company as well as European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The new CD “Strata” (Erkki-Sven Tüür: Symphony No 6 and double concerto “Noesis”) will be released under the label ECM in 2010)

Activities in 2010–2011

• Concerts: 1) Orchestra gathers for 3 – 4 projects a year in Estonia giving all together 10 – 11 concerts in one season. Every gathering is similar to a music festival – with great spirit and extremely high level music making 2) Concert tours to Europe (concerts in Latvia, Finland, Vienna, Germany, Slovenia and elsewhere)
• The tour in May 2010 takes place from Tallinn to Vienna (concerts in legendary Vienna Konzerthaus), Maribor and Riga.

Master classes with the leading musicians from around the world.

Awards, documentary films

NSO and its young conductor Anu Tali have gained attention of media channels at the international level. Television channels NHK (2005) in Japan, ARTE (2007; 2008) and ARD (2005) in Germany, Deutsche Welle (2007), Finnish YLE TV and Estonian TV (2003, 2005) have made documentaries and movies about them.
In October 2003 the first record of NSO, “Swan Flight” won a prize in Germany at one of the most famous classical music ceremony “Echo Classics Awards”. In 2005 the second CD “Action. Passion. Illusion” was nominated for the same prize and it has got a lot of attention in international music press. In 2006 conductor Anu Tali got the prize from the President of Estonia – the Young Musician of the Year and was elected to be the Musician of the Year 2006 by Estonian Broadcasting Union. In 2008 Anu Tali was awarded the UNICEF award “Bluebird” in Estonia and “Rising Start” award in Estonia and “Rising Start” award in Germany.