“Cabaret Style Concert at Latvian National Opera with Music by Kurt Weil – That’s the Way Life Is”

In the Great Hall of the Latvian National Opera (LNO) on May 6, there will be a concert in the mood of a cabaret “That’s the way life is” with the music of the legendary German composer Kurt Weil. The LNO group of musicians and soloist Ilona Bagele will take part in the concert.

As LNO representative Irbe Treile informs “Delfi”, the cabaret-style concert will feature compositions from the world-famous “Three Grasses Opera”, the unfinished musical “Huckleberry Finn”, the song-play “Mahogany”, the opera “Lost in the Stars”, etc. The arrangements were made by the prominent vibrophonist and the world-famous chamber orchestra “Kremerata”. Baltica” musician Andrejs Puškarevs.

As the LNO representative reminds, the audience of the Latvian National Opera has already had the opportunity to enjoy the musical and emotional show “Cantando y Amando” (winner of the Grand Music Prize 2012 in the Performance of the Year category) and the concert program “Tenor Trio. Arrivederci Roma” in the performance of the creative team of the concert.

Ilona Bagele (mezzo-soprano), Andris Ābelīte (trumpet), Ilze Ozoliņa (piano), Svetlana Okuņa (violin), Inga Ozola (cello), Normund Everts (percussion), Inita Āboliņa (accordion) and Viktors Veličko (double bass) take part in the concert. ). The director of the concert is Elita Bukovska, the author of the artistic concept is Ilze Ozoliņa, the costume designer is Kristīne Pasternak.

“In my first solo concert in the Beletáž Hall together with Ilzi Ozoliņa, we went through Kurt Weil’s music, which already appealed to me a lot. The then director Andrejs Žagars also offered to perform the first solo concert in the Jauna Hall with the music of this composer, but I wanted to sing Astor Piazzolla more and “Cantando” was created. y Amando”. I said that Kurt Weill should be postponed, and now it’s here. His music is very felt and emotional, and the collaboration of our whole team is essential for its sound. Obviously, I’m a soloist, but only in the overall sound of this music, these arrangements become really interesting. I haven’t sung such music for a long time, and for me the concert “Tāda ir jīva…” will be a return to the cabaret genre,” says Ilona Bagele.

German composer Kurt Weill of Jewish origin created symphonic and instrumental music, cantatas, vocal music cycles in the first half of the 20th century, but his works in the genre of opera music, musical theater and film music are the most widely known, which allows him to be called one of the most popular stage composers of his time in Germany . The music created by him for the sharp social satire “Trīsgrašu Opera”, created in collaboration with playwright Bertolt Brecht, has gained world fame. The composer spent the second half of his life in the United States, where he received prestigious awards and nominations for his music.

The concert “That’s life…” will be held in the Great Hall of the opera house with the iron curtain down, creating unique acoustics for performing chamber music. LNO invites you to take into account that the places on the sides of the balconies and in the further rows have limited visibility.