Foresighted and far-sighted – conductor Normunds Šnē celebrates his 60th anniversary / Article / LSM.lv

On November 10, the two-time Grand Music Prize winner, officer of the Order of the Three Stars, one of the founders of the contemporary music festival “Arena”, audio producer, amateur radio, conductor and artistic director of the Sinfonietta Rīga chamber orchestra, Normunds Šnē.

Although most of the greetings were received remotely by the maestro, colleagues took care of the surprise by presenting him with the “Ehrenpreiss” bicycle.

Calm, deep, youthful, very far-sighted and far-sighted – this is how the birthday of St. Martin’s Day, the artistic director and conductor of the Sinfonietta Rīga Chamber Orchestra is described by colleagues on the morning of his birthday.

“Normunds is not only a conductor, he is our like-minded musician, and we used to play a lot with him, and I’m really sorry that he doesn’t play oboe anymore, he was just a great oboist,” says the musician of the Sinfonietta Riga chamber orchestra. Agnese Kanniņa.

It is Normunds Šnē’s revolutionary spirit, which is still passionate and energetic, that sustains the Sinfonietta Rīga all these years, says musician Ilona Meija.

“He could quite easily compete with some teenage, young people in his ideas, speed of thinking, sharpness,” says Sinfonietta Rīga musician Jānis Stafeckis.

“He looks very far, and as we know, he also listens very far.”

The celebrant himself, in anticipation of the 60th anniversary, claims that not much attention is paid to anniversaries and counting time according to passport data. Never have a birthday specially planned to be free from work and feel privileged to do what brings true happiness. And that’s exactly how he feels in life as a whole.

“Throughout these years, my father really made such a revelation to me. He said in a colossal phrase that time and years are two completely different things. And the way time passes for us is in no way related to the number we see when we count our birthdays, years, etc., ”says Normunds Šnē.

If there was no emergency, on the morning of the birthday, the maestro and his colleagues would start trying Agneta Krilova’s new work, written especially for “Sinfonietta Rīga”, which was due to premiere on Friday.

New music and a concert would have been a great gift for the birthday – admits the partygoer. Sorry, the concert has been canceled.

“Being with colleagues – we are really such a very cohesive and harmonious company all these years – it is a colossal privilege, and it can not be replaced by a banquet in a restaurant or something, this is something much more,” notes the anniversary. “And then the opportunity to stay home in the evening and play jokes with the children, talk about future plans with your spouse – is the best that can be.”

Following the example of the Chancellery of the President, the musicians and friends of the orchestra have provided the anniversary with a gift that the President of France received while visiting Latvia, and now the maestro will be able to enjoy his favorite season by mentioning the pedals of the Ehrenpreiss bicycle Gustavs.

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