Violinist Gidon Kremer and his Kremerata Baltica chamber orchestra begin a rare, weeklong, six-city tour of the United States at the 92nd Street Y's Kaufmann Concert Hall in New York City tonight. The tour continues with performances at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, Stude Concert Hall in Houston, Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, Harris Theater in Chicago, and Ordway Center in St. Paul. Kremer and the orchestra will perform a typically eclectic repertoire, with works by Weinberg, Pärt, Britten, and Shostakovich, including his satiric comic opera Antiformal Rayok, featuring bass Alexei Mochalov. See below for all of the currently scheduled tour dates and ticket links; for additional details, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.

Kremerata Baltica was founded by Gidon Kremer in 1996 and is composed of a group of young musicians from the three Baltic States. They first performed in the violinist’s hometown of Riga, Latvia, in February 1996 and have since toured throughout the world. Kremer, who is the group’s artistic director, described the Kremerata Baltica, in an interview with the New York Times, as “a musical democracy ... open-minded, self-critical, a continuation of my musical spirit.”

Gidon Kremer and the Kremerata Baltica's latest Nonesuch Records release is 2012's The Art of Instrumentation: Homage to Glenn Gould, which NPR called "lovely and alluring," adding: "There are many moments in this album to make you smile, wonder and simply bask in the beauty of the music."

The ensemble’s seven previous Nonesuch releases with Kremer are: De Profundis (2010), Mozart: The Complete Violin Concertos (2009), The Russian Seasons (2003), Happy Birthday (2003), Enescu (2002), After Mozart (2001), Silencio (2000), and Eight Seasons (2000). The violinist’s albums on the label also include Tracing Astor (2001), El Tango (1997), Homage à Piazzolla (1996), John Adams’s Violin Concerto (1996), and the eight-CD box set Hommage à Piazzolla: The Complete Astor Piazzolla Recordings (2012).

GIDON KREMER & KREMERATA BALTICA ON TOUR