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Martin Fröst Premiere

Martin Fröst (Photo by Mats Baecker)

Swedish Clarinettist Martin Fröst Shows The Results Of His Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award

Tonight Martin Fröst performs the world premiere of a new clarinet concerto by Kalevi Aho commissioned for him by the Borletti-Buitoni Trust. Fröst was one of the first BB Trust award-winners announced in 2003, along with soprano Emma Bell, pianist Jonathan Biss and the Jerusalem Quartet. His commitment to extending the repertoire of the clarinet left him in no doubt as to how to spend his award. Following the world premiere performance tonight, Martin Fröst will record Aho’s Clarinet Concerto with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra conducted by Osmo Vänska for the BIS label. The CD will be released in February 2007

The Borletti-Buitoni Trust was launched in 2002 with the aim of helping established young artists to further develop their exceptional talents. Each Borletti-Buitoni Trust prize is tailor-made to meet the needs of the individual artist, the aim being to provide help in as flexible and innovative a way as possible. The range of projects which can be undertaken is diverse: from the purchase of bows, scores or instrument cases to commissioning new works, making a recording or undertaking musical or language studies. The BB Trust also provides advice and introductions in such areas as public relations, auditions and appointing managing agents as well as showcases for the winners on BBT-produced CDs and CD-ROMs.

Several of the subsequent BB Trust winners have also chosen to commission new works, either completely or substantially funded by their awards including pianists Ralph van Raat (from Gavin Bryars) and Shai Wosner (from Michael Hersch); piano duo Simon Crawford-Philips and Philip Moore (from composer Detlev Glanert); and percussionist Colin Currie (three separate works from Dave Maric, Lukas Ligeti and Simon Holt).

The BB Trust is a private foundation formed by Ilaria Borletti-Buitoni and Franco Buitoni. The Artistic Committee which considers the nominations and selects the award winners each year consists of internationally-renowned pianist Mitsuko Uchida, Adam Gatehouse (Editor, Live Music Radio 3 and Executive Producer, BBC New Generation Artists), Martijn Sanders (Director of Concertgebouw in Amsterdam), and Franco Buitoni (President of Associazione Amici della Musica, Perugia).