Already next week in Luznava will be the third Baltic Jazz Festival “Škiuņa Jazz” – Music

Already next week, from August 25 to 28, the Baltic Jazz Festival “Škiuņa Jazz” will take place for the third time in Lūznava Manor of Rēzekne Region. The festival will feature concert programs with the participation of musicians from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, the USA and France, as well as the performance of 35 master class participants.

This year’s festival program will include concert programs prepared not only by jazz musicians and groups from the Baltic States, but also from the USA and France. On August 25, the festival will be opened by Latgale’s young jazz musicians, who have grown up and developed with the festival – Trio Lipskis / Justs / Arbidāns, therefore the festival organizers are especially happy about the association’s debut mini-album “Taids Jazz” released at the end of last year. This spring, the composition “Oki, nalej, leiteņ” was also included in the selection “Jazz in Latvia 2021”. Pianist Edgars Cīrulis and saxophonist Raimonds Petrovskis will join the trio in Luznava. On August 27, David Chevallier Trio from France will visit the Baltic Jazz Festival “Škiuņa Jazz” with a French folk jazz program, presenting the program of the album “Everyone has their own folk song” released in March this year, Laura Amantov Quartet and Rūta Dūdumas-Ķirs The Ciel Experience from the USA will intertwine R&B, swing, hip-hop and traditional Haitian music styles rooted in the harmonies and improvisation of American jazz traditions. On Saturday, August 28, the day’s program will feature performances by the festival’s master classes, while in the evening modern and academic jazz will merge with the Lithuanian Kęstutis Vaiginis Quartet, as well as the Estonian and Armenian musicians’ association Shabat Quartet, whose repertoire includes original works. folk music arrangements. The closing program of the festival will be traditionally taken care of by Rēzekne big band, which will be joined by the festival’s master class leaders – jazz singer Vita Rusaityte (LT), percussionist Artis Orubs (LV), saxophonist Kęstutis Vaiginis (LT), jazz guitarist Jaan Janson EE). An integral part of the festival will also be the jam sessions of the festival every evening, in which both the participants of the master classes and the lecturers play music together.

The aim of the festival has remained the same – to promote interest in jazz music, to encourage the cooperation of future and existing jazz musicians, as well as to continue to experience the joy of jazz music in Latgale. Also this year, those interested in jazz music – students of music schools and universities, future musicians and other jazz enthusiasts – were invited to apply for the festival’s master classes. 35 people from Latvia and Lithuania applied for the opportunity to improve their professional experience with teachers from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and this year also The Ciel Experience musicians from the USA – double bass, jazz guitar, bass guitar, saxophone and other wind instruments, keyboards and vocal. Also, in all master classes it will be possible to acquire skills of improvisation and ensemble interplay, which in the performance of five established ensembles will be able to be assessed in the final concert of the master classes on August 28.

The idea for a jazz festival at Luznava Manor began in September 2018, when the Jazz Music Department was established at the Jānis Ivanovs Rezekne Music High School, headed by jazz musician and composer Toms Lipskis. When he started working in Latgale, he had the idea to create a jazz festival in Luznava, thus taking over the artistic management of the future festival. At the end of the summer of 2018, two concert programs of Luznava’s “Kulturys škiunī” included a concert of the opening jazz festival, marking the time and place of the festival. Unfortunately, in the autumn Tom went to eternity too early, but in honor of the work he started and dedicated the festival to his memory, with the motto “Continuation!” In August 2019, the first Baltic jazz festival “Škiuņa Jazz” took place in Luznava Manor. The artistic director of the festival, trombonist, active and experienced jazz musician Lauris Amantovs continues the enthusiasm of the festival’s ideas and beginnings and maintains it for the third year in a row together with the Luznava manor team. “Škiuņa Jazz” will be a continuation of the started ideas this year as well, a continuation of jazz music in Latgale, a continuation of transferring the knowledge of experienced jazz musicians to young people.

Concert tickets can be purchased at “Biļešu Paradīze” box offices and on the Internet, the number of seats in concerts is limited, but the jam session is free for visitors. Concerts can be attended with a valid Covid-19 disease, vaccination or testing certificate. Each concert ticket costs € 4.00 separately, but there is also a two-day (August 27 and 28) entrance ticket that costs € 15.00 and a one-day (August 27 or 28) ticket worth € 8.00. . Enjoying evening jam sessions is free.

The Baltic Jazz Festival in Luznava this year is supported by Rēzekne Municipality, the US Embassy in Latvia and the French Institute in Latvia, as well as Latvijas Balzams and Rēzekne Meat Factory.

–