Baltic Neopolis Orchestra
Baltic Neopolis Orchestra, winner of the 2015 Fryderyk award in the “Best Chamber Music Album” category, is a string chamber orchestra established in 2008 in Szczecin, Poland. Since then, the orchestra has performed hundreds of concerts, creating and performing their own series, as well as being invited by important festivals and concert series worldwide.
The artistic identity of BNO was shaped by a number of musical personalities, out of which the most influential to the group still is the world-renowned violinist and concertmaster Vasko Vassilev – the artistic director of the group since 2015. The group has earned wide recognition from listeners and critics alike, performing in concert halls in Europe and Asia, in countries such as Germany, France, Czech Republic, Estonia, Croatia, Greece, Norway, Malaysia, Japan, Singapore, Laos, Cambodia and Philippines, among others.
Since its foundation, Baltic Neopolis Orchestra is managed by violist Emilia Goch Salvador. Due to her effort and passion, the orchestra gathers some of the best Polish instrumentalists to play together in important national and international musical projects. The orchestra repertoire ranges from standard to new commissions therefore BNO musicians are always keen to take part in avant-garde projects.
Appreciated in Poland, Europe and the World, Baltic Neopolis Orchestra is still looking for new fields in musical inspiration. They work regularly with renowned composers and artists, such as: Tomasz Tomaszewski, the concertmaster of Deutsche Oper in Berlin; Marat Bisengaliev, violinist and artistic director of the India Symphony Orchestra; Maria Machowska, the concertmaster of the National Philharmonic; Daniel Rowland, the leader of Brodsky String Quartet; Alina Mleczko, the best classic saxophonist in Poland;
Marcelo Nisinman, bandoneonist branded as the successor of Astor Piazzolla; Carmine Lauri, concertmaster of London Symphony Orchestra; Adam Bałdych, best Polish jazz violinist of the young generation, as well as composers such as Mikołaj Górecki, Hanna Kulenty and Paweł Łukaszewski, winner of 7 Fryderyk awards.
The current artistic legacy of the Orchestra comprises eight records: Ego Sapientia by Marek Jasiński, realized together with the Academic Choir named after professor Jan Szyrocki, of the Zachodniopomorski Uniwersytet Techniczny (West Pomeranian Technical University) (2013), Compositions of Mikołaj Górecki and Paweł Łukaszewski, recorded with Tomasz Tomaszewski (2013), Compositions of Szczecin, with the pieces by Piotr Klimek, Michał Dobrzyński, Zbigniew Bagiński and Janusz Stalmierski (2013), Tribute to Carl Loewe, with Urszula Kryger, Adam Kruszewski and Paweł Kotla (2014), Sonatina für Alina, recorded with the saxophonist Alina Mleczko (2014), Il Tramonto, with the soprano singer Joanna Tylkowska-Drożdż (2015), Musica Sacra 5 by Paweł Łukaszewski’s, featuring BNO (2014), winning the Fryderyk award in the Best Chamber Music Album category, and 4 AM Tango with Marcelo Nisinman (2019).
The Orchestra – with its passion and dedication – creates a part of the most prestigious, and at the same time, unique and modern cultural offer. Furthermore, it still surprises with its openness to forms of artistic cooperation and the multidimensionality of its concerts. Baltic Neopolis Orchestra attempts to always be close to its audience, using original methods of expression and selects its repertoire with precision in a truly world class level.
Director of the Orchestra
Emilia Goch Salvador
Emilia Goch Salvador, in 2005, graduated with honours from the Jan Paderewski Music Academy in Poznań in Prof. Dominik Rutowski’s viola class. She has received multiple scholarships of the President of the City of Szczecin, as well as the West Pomeranian Voivodship Marshal’s award for the best higher education graduation diploma in the musical arts category. In 2008, she founded the chamber string orchestra – Baltic Neopolis Orchestra, which she has lead up to this day. She is also the chairman of the Baltic Neopolis Orchestra Association – one of the most dynamically functioning non-governmental cultural organisations in Poland. As a soloist and chamber musician, she has worked with such artists as: Bartłomiej Nizioł, Vasko Vassilev, Marcelo Nisinman, Carmine Lauri, Tomasz Daroch, Tomasz Tomaszewski, Sandor Javorkai, Bartosz Bryła, Kevin Kenner, Roman Jabłoński, Maria Machowska. In 2005-2018, she worked with numerous bands and orchestras, such as: Deutsche Oper Solisten, Covent Garden Soloists, Covent Garden Opera House, Symphony Orchestra of India, V4- Visegrad quartet, and Prussian Chamber Orchestra. With these groups, she performed in prestigious concert halls, among all else in India, Norway, Estonia, Germany, Denmark, Czechia, Greece, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Philippines. In 2012-2015, she worked with the Sadler’s Wells theatre in London, where she took part, as a chamber musician, in two international productions ”Sutra” and ”Orbo Novo”. In 2016, together with Baltic Neopolis Orchestra, she participated in a prestigious tour in the Southeast Asia countries – the TOYOTA CLASSICS TOUR. She recorded numerous albums with the Baltic Neopolis Orchestra and Baltic Neopolis Quartet. In 2017, along with the new chamber music group Baltic Neopolis Virtuosi she took part in a concert tour in China and Japan. In 2016, she began working with the Portuguese string quartet Guimaraes String Quartet, with which she performs regularly. The quartet was invited in 2017 to the International Music Festival in Macau (China) and the concerts in Germany and Poland (including the National Music Forum in Wrocław). Furthermore, the band regularly performs in Portugal. Emilia Goch Salvador has been a lecturer at the Art Academy in Szczecin since 2013, and since 2019, she has conducted master courses for altoviolists in her hometown of Szczecin, as well as in Guimaraes in Portugal.
Artistic director
Vasko Vassilev
Vasko Vassilev acts as a concertmaster in the Royal Opera House in London, where he debuted in 2005 as a conductor. Vassilev, ever since his earliest ages has shown an incredible talent, and has quickly earned his status as a young genius violinist. As a 10-year-old boy, he began education in the Moscow National Conservatory, and 7 years later he won his first international music competition in Paris. At the age of 18, he travelled to London, and his career improved massively, which is proved by the amount of awards he earned on prestigious competitions.
At the age of 23, as the youngest in history, he took the position of the concertmaster in the Royal Opera House in London, and in 2005, he debuted as a conductor in the Royal Opera House. In 2010, on his 40th birthday, he published an autobiography titled ”Vasko@40”, and a year later became a juror in the Bulgarian version of the popular reality show ”X FACTOR”. Since September 2015, he has been an art director for the Szczecin chamber orchestra – Baltic Neopolis Orchestra. He was the founder and the artistic director of the instrumental group ”Laureate”, comprising entirely of the world-famous musicians. He has worked with such artists as Plácido Domingo, Sting, Rolling Stones or Vanessa Mae, who was his student.
Program director, concertmaster
Emanuel Salvador
Emanuel Salvador was described by Strad Magazine as one of the best Portuguese violinists of his generation. He acted as a soloist, chamber musician and concertmaster in many worldwide venues in Great Britain, Kazakhstan, China, Japan, Portugal, the Netherlands, Mexico, Turkey, Spain, Italy and Germany. He has been a winner and laureate in such competitions as Isolde Menges (RCM), Beckenham Festival, Barbirolli Memorial, Wolfson Foundation, Jovens Musicos, Julio Cardona. In 2005, he graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Royal College of Music in London. As a solist and concertmaster, he has performed with varius orchestras, including Orquesta Nacional de Espana, Brasil National Orchestra, Seoul Classical Players, Adana Philharmonic, Monterrey Symphony Orchestra, Krasnojarsk Symphony, Orquestra de Norte, Classica da Madeira. He was the founder and the leader of the Guimaraes String Quartet in Portugal, with which he regularly performs in Europe and Asia. From 2005 to 2015, he was the concertmaster of Qrquestra do Norte in Portugal. The musician’s successes include albums which were highly acclaimed by critics and master courses conducted by te artist all over the world. He has had multiple prestigious concert tours around Southeast Asia, China, Japan and United States on his account.