Pianist Vestards Shimkus, tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko, cellist Matthew Barley, three Osokini piano virtuosos, accordionist Ksenia Sidorova, Jurmala Festival Orchestra and others will perform at the concerts. The special guests of the festival will be the stars of Broadway musicals from London. The most beautiful opera arias, operas by Zigmars Liepiņš will also be played Notre Dame concert performance, concert Born in Latvia with the participation of big and rising stars.
The festival will traditionally be opened by a sunrise concert on July 16 on Dzintari beach with the main organist of the Elba Philharmonic, Iveta Apkalna, known as the queen of the organ. Her sunrise concert programs are always distinguished by thoughtful content and drama, where the selected compositions organically harmonize with the sounds of nature and gradually prepare us for the miraculous moment of sunrise, giving an unforgettable listening experience.
This time, when the sun rises, on July 16, the majestic timelessness of Johann Sebastian Bach, the spiritually uplifting opus of Pēter Vaskas and Aivars Kalējs, as well as the music of the American minimalist Philip Glass, in which the energy of life and the infinity of time pulsate, will be heard. Iveta Apkalnas will be able to hear the finale from the Glass opera Satyagraha (translated from Sanskrit – “the power of truth”), dedicated to the leader of the Indian independence movement, Mahatma Gandhi. Johann Sebastian Bach’s Chaconne from Partita No. 2 for violin will be played this time in an overture for organ – it is often called one of the greatest and most emotionally powerful compositions in music literature. In Pētera Vaska’s “White Landscape”, the composer conjured purified silence and whiteness in the sounds with a sense of infinity, but his brightest organ piece Hymn Vaks dedicated it directly to Iveta Apkalnas. A toccata for the glorifying chorale will be played by the luminary of organ music, Aivars Kalež Glory to God in the highest.
To help get to this free concert, at At 3.45 a specially assigned train will depart from the Riga Central Railway Station in the direction of Jurmala. The entrance to the A tunnel of the Riga Central Railway Station will be open from 3.15. Dzintari beach is easily accessible from Majoru and Dzintari stations.
In turn, the Jūrmala public transport traffic organization will provide an additional trip on the 5th bus route Sloka station – Bulduri with departure time at 3:45 from the starting stop Sloka station and the final stop Dzintaru concert hall.
On July 16, pianist Vestards Šimkus, Latvian National Symphony Orchestra and conductor Jānis Liepiņš will perform a concert of symphonic music. Vestard Šimkus, loved by the audience, has been called “phenomenal” (conductor Pāvo Jervi), “inspiring” (BBC), “pianist of the highest caliber” (American Record Guide). Vestard Šimkus has performed in the most important concert halls of the world – the Vienna Concert Hall, the Berlin Concert Hall, the Tokyo City Opera, the French Radio Concert Hall in Paris, Amsterdam concert hallStockholm’s Berwald Hall and Concert Hall, Barcelona’s Palace of Music and elsewhere.
Jānis Liepiņš is one of the most promising and talented baton masters of his generation, a sought-after conductor of opera music who has regularly collaborated with outstanding opera singers. Since 2019, he has been the first conductor of the Mannheim National Opera.
The third symphony of the French romanticist Camille Sensans will be played in the magnificent program of symphonic music (Organ), which is notable for its vivid imagery, grace and brilliant instrumentation. On the other hand, in the impressive Sensansa Dance of death after an ancient French superstition contemplated the appearance of the figure of death in the dance. Overture to an operetta by Leonard Bernstein Candidate witty, with a stroke worthy of Rossini, opens a musical curtain to the mood that sparkles throughout the operetta. But in the virtuosic Piano Concerto of symphony jazz master George Gershwin, the spirit of youthful American life, blues nostalgia and a feast of frenetic rhythms are bubbling.
This year, as a prelude to the festival, a special event is expected on the evening of June 15 night concert which will be a novelty of the festival. The outstanding pianist Reinis Zariņš and the British cellist Matthew Barley will perform there – a fascinating musician with a versatile career and amazing artistic freedom. He has already visited Latvia several times and thrilled the audience with his eight-hour long night concerts at the festival To the light, taking listeners to an extraordinary dimension and providing an indescribable experience. Matthew Barley is also a great improviser who dares to push boundaries and loves to collaborate with musicians of different genres. Reinis Zariņš and Matthew Barley have already performed together several times in Great Britain, as well as in the famous Amsterdam concert hall in the concert hall.
The concert will be like a night meditation on the genius of Ludwig van Beethoven, under the cover of darkness leisurely reflecting on Beethoven’s life path and getting to know his creative development. Beethoven’s five sonatas for cello and piano will be played, which cover all stages of the composer’s work and serve as a compass of Beethoven’s life. In his youth, Beethoven was known as an unparalleled improviser rather than a composer, and it was improvisation that greatly influenced his composition. The concert will also be complemented by free improvisations, paying tribute to Beethoven, the greatest improviser of his time.
On July 17 and 18, listeners will have a unique opportunity to hear the iconic operas of Sigmars Liepins Notre Dame concert performance. Zigmar Liepiņš’s opera once became a symbol of Latvian opera music, the production of which was a great success at the Latvian National Opera and was performed 96 times. The CD version of the opera became the most requested recording of Latvian opera music. The heartbreaking music of Sigmars Liepiņš, the tragic love story of Esmeralda and Quasimodo tell us about the unbreakable strength of the spirit and the ability to love beyond borders.
On July 19, the virtuoso accordion diva Ksenija Sidorova will perform at the Jūrmala festival together with the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra and its chief conductor Gunti Kuzma. Ksenia Sidorova has become the ambassador of her instrument in the world, addressing listeners all over the world with her skill and charm of personality. Dressed as a “discoverer” (New York Times) with “breathtaking virtuosity” (The Observer) Ksenia Sidorova is one of the most prominent accordion virtuosos in the world, and her cleverly balanced, carefully designed programs have made it possible to appreciate the accordion, which has been known as a folk music instrument until now, in a completely new quality.
The center of the program will be pieces written by modern composers, with whom Ksenia Sidorova has a close collaboration. Dobrinka Tabakova Horizons for accordion and orchestra represents an abstract enlightenment, a journey towards new horizons. We will also hear the meditative and romantic pieces of the world-famous Turkish pianist Fazil Say Three balladsas well as the famous Argentinian composer and bandoneonist Juan Pablo Hofres Aboriginal with danceable jazz rhythms and folk mood. Liepaja Symphony Orchestra and conductor Gunta Kuzma will perform the Eighth Symphony of the Czech romanticist Antonin Dvořák. The optimistic composition expresses the joy of life, the beauty of nature and Bohemian folk music.
On July 20, there will be a concert at the festival Born in Latvia, which has already become a tradition of Jurmala festival. At the concert, musicians of different generations will meet on one stage, musical luminaries born in Latvia – both young talents and the most visible artists of Latvian concert life, as well as Latvian musicians with international fame, whose performances in their homeland are always a welcome event. Among the artists will be tenor Alexander Antonenko, accordionist Ksenia Sidorova, as well as talented young musicians. Jurmala Festival Orchestra will be conducted by Ainārs Rubiķis.
On July 21, a piano music concert with the outstanding pianists of the Osokina dynasty is expected at the festival. The union of three Osokins – two sons and a father – has become a brand of piano art both in Latvia and abroad. The piano playing of Andrej and Georgij Osokina has earned considerable recognition in the international arena, while their father Sergejs is one of the most respected musicians in Latvia. The Osokins’ joint concerts always feature the most beautiful golden repertoire of piano music and classical music masterpieces in original arrangements, both for four-handed, two and even three pianos.
This diverse selection of compositions will be no exception. We will hear the compositions of Johann Sebastian Bach, the brilliant and noble virtuoso of Robert Schumann Vienna Carnival and the melancholy beauty of Jean Sibelius Sad waltz. The resigned composition of Sergei Rachmaninov will also be played at the concert The tears (tears) from Suite for two pianos, op. 5. However, you will have the opportunity to experience a dizzying apotheosis of dance in Maurice Ravel’s choreographic poem Waltz – in a piece that is often considered the culmination of expressionism. The program will also include a cycle made up of individual parts of piano concertos by Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.
On July 22, with a golden selection of Broadway musicals, the festival will be visited by outstanding English stage theater stars, world-renowned singing actors who have performed at the Royal Albert Hall, London Barbicanat Glastonbury, and West End in a theater that, along with New York’s Broadway, is the highest level musical theater in the world. The musical has rightfully become a world favorite genre, in which intense and touching plots are interwoven with breathtaking dances and emotionally appealing music. Roberts Perviss, who has conducted countless productions in the famous Jūrmala Festival Orchestra, will West End at the theater in London.
On July 23, at the end of the Jūrmala festival, there will be a Gala concert with the most beautiful opera arias. The world-famous Latvian tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko will sing at the concert, for whom this is already his 25th season on stage. In his impressive career, he has performed on the stages of the world’s most prominent opera houses and concerts, singing and living leading tenor roles, in total close to thirty. Metropolitan Opera in New York, Milan the staircase, London’s Covent Garden Opera is just a few of the prestigious stages that have invited Alexander Antonenko to opera productions. In addition to the Jūrmala Festival Orchestra, Antonenko’s stage friends Inga Kalna, Dorotija Bīnerte and Jānis Apeinis will also perform at the concert.
2023-07-11 15:18:05
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