Press release 4.12.2007

The Rotterdam Philharmonic and Brussels Philharmonic- the Orchestra of Flanders join the international classicLive Internet portal –The premium network of symphony orchestras is steadily growing

The classicLive network has acquired two new members; the Rotterdam Philharmonic and Brussels Philharmonic-the Orchestra of Flanders with the Flemish Radio Choir have announced their decision to join this innovative orchestral league. ClassicLive is a unique concept providing access to many great orchestras via a single Internet portal.

The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra

The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra is the musical heart of the city of Rotterdam. Soon after its formation in 1918, it evolved into one of the leading orchestras in the Netherlands. Its repertoire covers not only all periods of musical history but also musical genres beyond the realm of the traditional.

Maestro Valery Gergiev will continue as Principal Conductor of the orchestra until August 2008. He will be followed by 31-year-old Canadian Yannick Nézet-Séguin, whom the orchestra chose unanimously as his successor. Says Gergiev:

"The Rotterdam Philharmonic supports all efforts to overcome the obstacles of distance and borders, to bring performances of great music to the doorsteps of faraway audiences. We believe classicLive is a good concept that serves to promote this idea."

Brussels Philharmonic and the Flemish Radio Choir

The Brussels Philharmonic – the Orchestra of Flanders (earlier the Vlaams Radio Orkest) founded in 1935 is a modern, flexible symphony orchestra with a predilection for the past but with its sights fixed resolutely on the future. The Flemish Radio Choir (Vlaams Radio Koor), is a professional chamber choir singing works of all kinds, with particular attention to Flemish and contemporary music.

Says the General Manager of the orchestra, Mr. Gunther Broucke: “Joining the classicLive network gives us a great opportunity to let audiences enjoy our concerts in Brussels. The capital of the European Union is a rich cultural melting pot of people and ideas. This richness is also part of our musical heritage – now available to anyone with broadband access to the Internet.”

The orchestra’s Artistic Director, Michel Tabachnik, is excited at the hype brought by the medium to Brussels Philharmonic-the Orchestra of Flanders:

“The live webcasts of our concerts will electrify the musicians to give their best not only to the live audience in the hall but also to listeners in homes and in institutions training musicians for the future. The Internet has seldom been put to such fine use as in streaming the greatest achievements of classical music past and present.”


The classicLive Internet portal – home of the premium network of symphony orchestras

Each classicLive concert is first streamed live via the Internet all over the world. Following brief editing it is then visible and audible on demand at any time during the next three weeks. The rapid repertoire turnover thus maintains interest in the portal among classicLive subscribers.

The first concerts, by the Lahti Symphony Orchestra from Finland and the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra from Budapest, were streamed in September 2007.

classicLive audiences all over the world have seen conductors such as maestros Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Osmo Vänskä, Zoltan Kocsic, János Kovács and Giordano Bellincampi. The soloists in these Internet concerts have included violinist Miriam Fried, pianist Boris Berezovsky and Alexei Volodin, and clarinettist Martin Fröst. The special appearance by Sir Roger Moore was one of the highlights of the first season.

“The short-range objective is to create a classicLive league of around 15 orchestras,” says Tuomas Kinberg, General Manager of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra. “One thing the members of this organically-growing network will have in common is that they will all be among the very finest orchestras their country has to offer. We are very proud to be part of this network.”

Osmo Vänskä, also the Music Director of Minnesota Orchestra, considers opening the service a historical moment. “ClassicLive offers a platform where, for the first time, great, dynamic orchestras can provide concerts to music lovers around the globe.”

“No doubt, we are writing music history,” agrees Géza Kovács, Director General of the Hungarian National Philharmonic. “Nowadays, when we often feel that classical music is in danger and when more and more people are using the Internet, classicLive offers real value for millions of people. We are proud to be a member of this 'exclusive club' where the main rule is to give people the joy of music on the highest level.”

Conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste, who will start as Artistic Advisor of the Lahti Symphony in 2008, sees the value of classicLive as a new approach to the concert tradition.

“I am glad to participate in this visionary effort that will bring classical music to music lovers and new audiences all over the world. This exciting new media format will show classical music as part of our daily life and will help to generate new audiences.”

The system requirement for this service providing TV-standard images and almost CD-standard sound is broadband access of only 1MB. Access to the portal concerts at www.classiclive.com can be purchased online by credit card.

The main responsibility for the service lies with Saltarello Ltd. The technical platform and operations are the work of TietoEnator Corp., another Finnish company. Each network orchestra is responsible for the initial production of its Internet concert streaming videos in accordance with the high artistic and technical quality specifications applying to portal concerts. The portal language is English.