This year's edition of the Baltic Sea Festival has been cancelled
The Baltic Sea Festival, which was to take place in August 2020, has been cancelled. Even though it had been intended to make the festival a digital project, the planning conditions due to the Covid-19 outbreak have finally made that impossible.
"We had prepared to present the festival digitally, even though the circumstances would have been difficult. Since the outbreak of covid-19 prevented physical audiences in Berwaldhallen, we have anyway continued to present live concerts every week on P2 as well as web-streamed on Berwaldhallen Play; we were pleased with the positive response we received for these concerts. Whilst a great deal of work had been devoted to planning a "new" Baltic Sea festival, in the end we had to make the decision to cancel completely" says Staffan Becker, General Manager of Berwaldhallen.
"It is extremely sad to have had to cancel this year's Festival. But we very much hope that in 2021 we will be able to offer the audience an even more challenging and thought-provoking programme, one which will once again characterize the tradition of the Baltic Sea Festival, says Christian Thompson, Head of Artistic Planning at Berwaldhallen.
Purchased tickets for the Baltic Sea Festival 2020 will be refunded, ticket buyers will be contacted by our box office team. Next year's Baltic Sea Festival will take place in August and September 2021.
About the Baltic Sea Festival
Through music and conversation, the Baltic Sea Festival aims to highlight the importance of tolerance, democracy and the Baltic Sea countries' joint responsibility for a sustainable region. The Festival's home is Swedish Radio's Concert Hall Berwaldhallen with its ensembles, the P2 channel and cultural institutions around the entire Baltic Sea area. All the partners contribute to the Festival's content through shared streamed broadcasts of talks as well as live broadcasts from Berwaldhallen in their respective places.
Partnerships
Voksenåsen in Oslo, Hanaholmen in Helsinki, the National Library in Riga, the MO Museum in Vilnius and the Black Diamond at the Royal Library in Copenhagen, the Baltic Sea Cultural Centre in Gdańsk broadcasting from St. John’s Church. The festival’s partners are Skansen, Council of the Baltic Sea States, Södertörn University, the Polish Institute in Stockholm, the Raoul Wallenberg Academy and the Swedish Institute as well as the Swedish Institute of International Affairs.
Press contacts and more information
Carin Balfe Arbman, Press Officer for the Baltic Sea Festival, Berwaldhallen,
phone: +46 70-633 35 08, carin.balfe_arbman@sverigesradio.se.
Karl Thorson, Press Manager for Berwaldhallen, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Swedish Radio Choir,
phone: +46 70-431 18 93, karl.thorson@sverigesradio.se.
Berwaldhallen is the Swedish Radio Concert Hall.
