At the end of the Riga festival, Vestards Šimkus’ new concert program will be performed

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As “Delfi” informs the organizers of the concert from VSIA “Latvijas Koncerti”, the program focuses on preludes written in different times and styles – from baroque majestic Bach to jazzy Gershwin, from romantic Chopin to Scriabin, who speaks in glorious harmonies, Šimkus’ own composition “Northern Wind. Gothic Prelude and Fugue”.

Pianist Vestards Šimka is called a phenomenal and inspiring, expressive and charming, surprising and original, talented master of black and white keys, who with his play has delighted countless listeners, including prestigious international competition juries and erudite critics, both in Latvia and abroad.

The winner of the “Riga Festival” Grand Music Prize will end with a new concert program, which focuses on preludes written in different times and styles – with and without fugues.

Vestards Šimkus says: “Nowadays there is a tendency to specialize in an increasingly narrow field. In the case of musicians, it means devoting all your efforts to become a specialized player of music of one particular era or even a certain composer and then create your own concert programs from this repertoire. I have felt the opposite desire – to seek and find what unites, not separates different composers and styles of different eras. “

The first half of the concert will be dedicated to the preludes of Chopin, Scriabin, Debussy and Gershwin, reminding that Chopin was once Scriabin’s favorite composer, while Debussy’s innovative Impressionist colors in the imagination of the same Russian master inspired the birth of musical modernism. Gershwin’s sympathies with the Impressionist style are well known, but one of his preludes – Melody No. 17 – also clearly points to the influence of Scriabin’s music.

The second half of the concert will be dedicated to preludes and fugues, or subjective and absolute relations in the music composed by Bach, Shostakovich and Vestard himself.

Continuing his opus “Northern Wind. Gothic Prelude and Fugue”, Vestards Šimkus reveals: “The northern wind in my native Kurzeme is especially cunning – during the summer it makes the clouds disperse and helps the sun shine brightly. In such moments, standing in the wind, it seems that either this is the right time to go to the sea and admire its beauty, but when you get to it, you have to face the breezy coolness of this wind, which I then tried to incorporate in this piece.This prelude and fugue is due to the fact that outside Kurzeme seaside I have a similar coolness In such buildings, medieval Gregorian chants were created and still sound wonderful, the melody of which is rooted in the main musical themes of this composition. Surprisingly, the melody is so close to the oldest Latvian folk songs. “

Concert attendees will be required to present an interoperable vaccination or Covid-19 disease certificate as well as an identity document. The organizers ask to arrive no later than 30 minutes before the concert.

The concert will be available on ReTV at 10 p.m.

Concert attendees are encouraged to use remote ticketing as a matter of priority. Tickets can be purchased “Ticket Paradise” box offices.

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