KOWIEŃSKA ORKIESTRA SYMFONICZNA
In 2015, the Orchestra celebrated its 10 year anniversary, the time when a number of major and significant projects had been implemented; plenty of memorable concerts – not only of classical but also popular music – had been included into the biography. The Orchestra has had the privilege to play with the legendary bands and artists of the world, such as “The Scorpions” and “Electric Light Orchestra”, “Smokie”, Bonie Tyler, Chris Norman, Robert Wells and Maggie Reilly. KCSO has appered on the stage together with the world-renowned soloists Lynette Tapia (soprano, United States), Elīna Garanča (mezzo-soprano, Latvia), John Osborn (tenor, United States), Lawrence Brownlee (tenor, United States), Jose Carreras (tenor, Spain), Lana Gordon (United States), etc., as well as with instrumentalists Alexander Markov (violin, United States–Russia), Domenico Nordio (violin, Italy), Mario Hossen (violin, Bulgaria), Philipe Graffin (violin, France), Aydar Gaynullin (accordion, Germany), Vladislav Lavrik (trumpet, Russia), Laurens Weinhold (violin, Norway), etc.
In 2014 it became the main Orchestra of the Festival “Fjord Cadenza” in Norway. The most significant to KCSO is the collaboration with Dmitri Hvorostovsky, one of the most famous baritones of the world, and conductor Constantine Orbelian. The concerts have been held together with these masters of music in Kaunas, Vilnius, Riga, Tallin and Helsinki. Giuseppe Verdi’s “Simon Boccanegra”, recorded by Dmitri Hvorostovsky together with the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra, as well as the „Metropolitan Opera“ soloists Barbara Frittoli (soprano, Italy), Stefano Secco (tenor, Italy) and Marco Caria (baritone, Italy) in Kaunas, received the award for the best release in 2015 by “Delos Music” from New York’s magazine “Opera News”.
In last creative seasons, publishing projects with the most prominent voices of these days – Dmitri Hvorostovsky (baritone, Russia), Lawrence Brownlee (tenor, United State), Stefano Secco (tenor, Italy), Ildar Abdrazakov (bass, Russia), Dinara Alieva (soprano, Azerbaijan), Aleksandrs Antonenko (tenor, Latvia), John Osborn (tenor, Unated States).
Recording with them have been nominated for international classical music awards (e.g. “Virtuoso Rossini Arias” recorded with Lawrence Brownlee and The Kaunas State Choir was nominated for 2015 Grammy award in the best classical music album category, while “Allegro Io Son” recorded with “bel canto” star, who was assisted by Lithuanian soloists Viktorija Miškūnaitė (soprano), Liudas Mikalauskas (bass) and Andrius Apšega (baritone) as well as Kaunas State Choir, received the best August 2016 classical music release award from “Voix des Arts”, while the same release was nominated for 2017 Internacional Classical Music Awards in the best vocal recital category).
