Nimrod Borenstein: Cello Concerto No. 1
Oulunsalo Ensemble Featuring Yotam Baruch, Conducted by Nimrod Borenstein
Concert & Video Production
Project Overview
Prolific and internationally acclaimed composer Nimrod Borenstein marked the 10th anniversary of the Hailuoto Music Festival with a memorable performance. He conducted the festival’s residence orchestra, Oulunsalo Ensemble, in the Finnish premiere of his own Cello Concerto, Op. 56b featuring Yotam Baruch, alongside renowned works by Edward Elgar and Jean Sibelius at the headline concert.
The performance concluded with a stunning encore, as cellist Yotam Baruch and violinist François Pineau-Benois collaborated in Borenstein’s Solitary Duologue.
Services Involved
Yotam Baruch
Cello Soloist
Eero is a great example of how dedication and hands-on learning lead to genuine skill. At the Hailuoto Music Festival, he is a man of many hats: a recording engineer, an event producer, a PR agent, an interviewer, and last but not least a composer. With his vast musical and general education, Eero would be an invaluable asset to any organization that engaged his talents. He has my strongest support.
Nimrod Borenstein
Composer & Conductor, London
I had a wonderful week making music at the Hailuoto Music Festival from start to end. It was a pleasure to conduct the orchestra, while the producer Eero Karvonen did a fantastic job ensuring that our great work was recorded for posterity!
When the music magazine Gramophone asked me to recommend a recent video of me conducting of my music for their “Video of the Day,” I had no hesitation in proposing the video Eero had produced of the performance of my cello concerto at the festival.
François Pineau-Benois
Concert Violinist & Professor
Rachmaninoff Conservatory, Paris
I strongly support Eero Karvonen. He is an excellent audiovisual engineer and a talented composer. Working on projects with him and playing his music is always a pleasure.
My Role & Contributions
As the festival’s technical producer, my role was to capture the concert in high-quality multi-camera video, producing releases that showcased Borenstein’s music and his conducting. I also conducted an interview with him at the festival office. Elisa Vesterbacka assisted with production on set.
The cello concerto, receiving its Finnish premiere, has previously been performed in New York, London, Brazil, Cuba, and Serbia. It is one of Borenstein’s more than one hundred compositions and remains one of his most beloved works.
Yotam Baruch, solo cello
Nimrod Borenstein, conductor
François Pineau-Benois, concertmaster
Sinikka Ala-Leppilampi, Silja Lassila, Petra Keinänen, Annu Heikkilä, Sonja Tuomela, Chen Rosen, Hilla Karppinen, Evgenia Karpova, violin
Weronika Skowrońska, Satu Kae, viola
Heikki Takkula, Oskari Elomaa, cello
Ari Kivelä, double bass
The concert concluded with Borenstein conducting Edward Elgar’s Serenade for Strings in E Minor. The piece, the first Elgar was satisfied with, faced many challenges before it found a publisher and public performances began. Today, it is one of Elgar’s most recorded works.
Nimrod Borenstein, conductor
François Pineau-Benois, concertmaster
Sinikka Ala-Leppilampi, Silja Lassila, Petra Keinänen, Annu Heikkilä, Sonja Tuomela, Chen Rosen, Hilla Karppinen, Evgenia Karpova, violin
Weronika Skowrońska, Satu Kae, viola
Heikki Takkula, Oskari Elomaa, cello
Ari Kivelä, double bass
Violinist François Pineau-Benois and cellist Yotam Baruch performed Solitary Duologue, an evocative duet by Nimrod Borenstein.
In this insightful interview, Nimrod Borenstein shares his thoughts on composing, conducting, and his collaborations with legendary conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy. He also reflects on his artistic journey and creative principles.
Gramophone Video of the Day 🏆
We were honored to have the prestigious classical music magazine, Gramophone, select my video production of Borenstein’s Cello Concerto as an entry for their Video of the Day series in October of 2024.
Broadcast on Radio România
In March 2025, Univers Muzical, an esteemed music programme on Radio România featured this recording of the concerto. In the audio excerpts below, you can hear introductions and credits for the production by the journalist running the show, Daniela Vlad.
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