Anu Tali
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born in Estonia, she started her musical training as a pianist, graduated from the Tallinn Music High School in 1991 and continued her studies in the Estonian Music Academy as a conductor with Prof. Kuno Areng, Dr. Toomas Kapten and Prof. Roman Matsow. From 1998 to 2000 Ms. Tali studied at the St. Petersburg State Conservatory with Prof. Ilya Mussin and later with Leonid Kortchmar. Since 1995 she has regularly attended Professor Jorma Panula’s master classes at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and Moscow.
Together with her twin sister Kadri, Ms. Tali founded the Nordic Symphony Orchestra in 1997 in order to develop cultural contacts between Estonia and Finland and to unite musicians from around the world. The NSO, which now gathers five times each year, 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) and current season Apocalyptica (2006/2007) have proven highly successful and established for the orchestra an innovative profile. The Friends of the NSO exclusively finances the orchestra.
Ms. Tali also appears regularly with Estonian orchestras and has guest conducted orchestras in Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Slovakia, Austria, Germany, Russia, Japan and the United States. She has recently conducted orchestras including the Japan Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic, Strasbourg Philharmonic, Tyrol Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen.
Highlights of Ms. Tali’s 2005-2006 season included a tour of Japan with the Hiroshima, Kyoto and Sapporo Symphony Orchestras and concerts in Germany with the NDR Symphony Orchestra and Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. In the summer of 2006, Anu Tali debuted at the Savonlinna Opera Festival with a new production of Carmen and also at the Salzburg Festival with the Mozarteum Orchestra. In 2006-2007, she will conduct orchestras including the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre National de Lyon, the Munich Chamber Orchestra and the Deutsche Symphony Orchestra Berlin.
Ms. Tali and the NSO made their debut recording in 2002 with Swan Flight (Finlandia/Warner Classics). The album featured two world premiere recordings, Orchestral Suites Ocean and Swan Flight, both by the Estonian composer Veljo Tormis (b. 1930), who had previously been known for his choral music. The recording earned Ms. Tali the Young Artist of the Year award at the 2003 Echo Klassic Awards in Germany. She also received the Cultural Award of Estonia 2003 and the Presidential Award of Estonia in 2004 for her work introducing Estonian music to the world. Anu Tali has also recorded Estonian music with the Frankfurt RSO. Most recently, the NSO and Tali released their second recording Action Passion Illusion for Warner Classics. The program includes Rachmaninov's Three Russian Folk Songs, Sibelius's The Wood Nymph and three works by Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür: Action, Passion, Illusion* and Zeitraum [*world premiere].
