David Oistrahhi Festival, 12. – 25. juuli, 2009, Pärnu David Oistrakh ...

David Oistrahhi festivalile laia rahvusvahelise tähelepanu.
Allar Kaasik on huvitav, vaimne ja sügav interpreet,
samas ka intrigeeriv muusikajuht nii festivaliteoreetiku
kui ka -praktikuna. Ta on kõrgelt aateline muusikakunsti kui
vaimse elamise viisi tutvustaja ning leidlik ja järjekindel oma
ideede elluviijana.
The founder and artistic director of David Oistrakh Festival
Allar Kaasik is a charismatic and versatile musical personality
who celebrated his 60th jubilee this winter. For this year’s
Oistrakh Festival Estonian composer Tõnu Kõrvits has
dedicated the work „seven dreams of seven birds“ to Allar Kaasik,
and also all of his 4 performances are premieres of Estonian
composer’s works. As the director of the festival he has started
a monumental project „Five years of the European Union on
the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea“ (2009–10) which has already
designed the image of the concerts this summer.
Allar Kaasik was born in Pärnu and started cello studies at
local music school with Mihkel Vool. Then followed Tallinn,
Moscow, and Riga, where he studied with Maris Villeruš. In
1974 he graduated cello cum laude in the class of Ivo Juul at the
Tallinn State Conservatoire (presently the Estonian Academy
of Music and Theatre),
For 15 years Allar Kaasik worked in the Estonian National
Symphony Orchestra. He has also played cello in the orchestra
of the national opera theatre Estonia, Tallinn Chamber
Orchestra, ensemble Hortus Musicus and others. He has
interpreedid/interpreters
performed as a soloist in many European countries, Russia,
South-Korea, the USA, Canada, and most recently in Milan,
Italy.
Allar Kaasik is best known and appreciated as a performer and
promoter of Estonian cello music. He has performed the cello
pieces of Estonian composers in several international music
festivals (incl. Naantali and Lahti Festivals in Finland). Several
composers have written works for him, including Erkki-Sven
Tüür, Galina Grigorjeva, Tõnu Kõrvits, Urmas Sisask, Kuldar
Sink, Anne Ellerhein-Metsala, Kaljo Raid, Helmut Rosenvald,
Eugen Kapp, etc. He worked especially closely with composer
Kuldar Sink (1942–1995).
Since the 1990s Allar Kaasik has worked in Finland, published
Estonian music (publishing house Alcanto) and taught cello
and orchestra in the East Helsinki Music Institute and Sibelius
Academy. He has been the Artistic Director of the David
Oistrakh Festival in Pärnu since 1997. Alongside the festival,
he has initiated several international cooperation projects,
including Neeme Järvi Summer Academy (since 2000) and the
unprecedented and unique projects Da Capo al St. Petersburg
(2004), Europa Festiva (2005) and Death and Immortality
(2006) which are supported by the European Commission in
the framework of the Culture 2000 programme and have given
the Oistrakh Festival and its musicians lots of international
publicity.
Allar Kaasik is an interesting, spiritual and deep musician, as
well as an intriguing festival leader with both theoretical and