At the Christmas festival, 11 concerts will be performed by Latvian and foreign artists: Maestro Raimonds Pauls, Latvian Radio Big Band, Daumants Kalniņš, Estonian National Ballet soloists, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, cellist Valters Pūce , pianist Dainis Tenis and the Riga Cathedral Boys’ Choir. You will also be able to listen to male vocal groups Riga school of singers And Ancient art of Rigaas well as pianists Andreja Osokina, Reina Zariņa and Daumanta Liepiņa.
The festival will feature film and theater music by Raimonds Paul, Peter Tchaikovsky Nutcracker, piano concerts by Johann Sebastian Bach, medieval music and piano music by Frédéric Chopin. Several concerts of the Christmas season will also be dedicated to children and families. An unmissable tradition of the festival will be the New Year’s concert with Viennese waltzes and the final program dedicated to Orthodox Christmas.
The Christmas festival will be opened on December 2 at 19.00 with a concert Raimondo Paolo and friends, where the Latvian Radio big band, singers Daumants Kalniņš and Elza Rozentāle will take the stage next to the Maestro. In the program it will be possible to listen to excerpts from the musical Raimonds Paul performed in 2000 at the Daile Theater The legend of the green Jumprava – an exciting and mythical story about the love and adventures of young people. Daumantas Kalniņš will perform Paula’s songs with lyrics by Imantas Ziedoņas and Annas Rancānes, as well as fragments from the musical Sister Carrie. However, Latvijas Radio’s big band will play the melodies of Maestro’s film music works.
on December 3 h At 16.00 and 19.00, the ballet soloists of the Estonian National Opera and the ARSIS bell ensemble will visit Dzintari with a brilliant performance of Christmas tales, introducing Peter Tchaikovsky into the whirlwinds of dance and the realm of Christmas miracles. Tchaikovsky’s beloved fairy tale ballet Nutcracker it celebrates youth, friendship and love, and every year at Christmas time it brings together full halls in all the ballet theaters of the world. The magic of Peter Tchaikovsky’s music and the fascination of this dreamlike story have always delighted the hearts of the audience. Nutmeg the stories will be performed by Estonian National Opera soloists Katlin Oja, Ali Urata, Marcus Nilson, Seili Loorits-Kämbre and Heidi Kopti. All of them have performed the leading roles in classical ballets by Pyotr Tchaikovsky and other composers, as well as winning prizes in various dance competitions, such as ERGO Dance Award, Philip Morris Young Dancer’s Award, MyFitness Dance Award.
on December 4th at 12.00 at the concert Little musical tales the whole family is invited by theater actress Liepāja Karīna Tatarinova, percussionist Marta Kauliņa-Pelnēna and woodcutter Ingus Novicāns. Concert show Little musical tales specially designed for preschool and primary school children, encouraging them to listen to fairy tales and musical stories, in which they can learn about various musical instruments and sing along. The compositions of Georga Pelēčas, Oleksijas Demčenkos, Raimonds Petrauskas and other Latvian composers will resonate with the sound effects and musical beats created by the musicians themselves. We will hear stories about Bonifacio the circus lion crossing the ocean to meet his grandmother, and about the little raccoon who learns to be brave, as well as the miraculous tall bean that grows in the clouds.
on December 17th at 7.00pm and on December 18th at 5.00pm at the concert Johann Sebastian Bach and 4 pianos a constellation of outstanding pianists will perform: Reinis Zariņš and Daumants Liepiņš, already well known to the Latvian public, as well as Estonian piano virtuosos. Stans Heinoja is a new generation Estonian pianist who lives and studies in London and has won numerous international competitions. Stan Lesmans is a bright personality in Estonian musical life, he is both a teacher at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theater and an active concert pianist. The Polish Radio Chamber Orchestra will be at the desk of the conductor of the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra Amedeo director Anna Duchmala-Mroza. After his debut at the famous Bad Kissingen Festival, the German press called him a “sensational conductor”. The concert will include concerts for two, three and four pianos with orchestra by Johann Sebastian Bach. In these works, Bach reveals his sunny, vital and dancing side to us with passionate dialogues, elegant strings of notes and the concert brilliance characteristic of Italian music.
on 22 and 23 December h 19.00 with a special Christmas concert in the Dzintari concert hall, the cellist Valters Pūce, the pianist Dainis Tenis and the boys’ choir of the Riga Cathedral will perform, performing pieces from the concert program Created in Latvia And Without electricity. We will listen to golden classics of Latvian music and songs of Mārtiņš Braun, Zigmar Liepiņš, Imanta Kalniņa, Raimonda Paulus and other composers in new arrangements. The concert will also feature several premieres, as well as tunes by Peter Tchaikovsky Swan Lake and Camille Sensans Animal Carnival.
AT December 25 h At 15.00 the festival invites you to a brilliant children’s musical show King Strazbeard’s Christmas, in which the music of the great English Baroque master Henry Purcell will intertwine with the Brothers Grimm fairy tale about King Strazbeard. The tale tells how the old king decided to marry his daughter, a princess. However, the capricious princess makes fun of everyone who comes to ask for her hand in marriage, giving the last candidate for marriage the most nasty grin and the nickname “Strazdubard”. Well, the old king’s patience is full, and he marries the princess to a beggar. What is actually hidden behind the image of a beggar and how the princess will be scolded to overcome her bad character – this will be revealed during the concert. Singers Agnese Pauniņa, Jānis Kurševs, Kalvis Kalniņš, Ilona Bagele, Juris Kaukulis, Latvian Radio Choir Soloists, students of NMV Riga Ballet School, instrumental ensemble and storyteller Karina Bērziņa take part in the performance. Music director Pēteris Vaickovskis.
December 26th at 5.00 pm with a program of medieval music Vox Chiara the internationally renowned vocal ensemble will perform School of Singers Riga and Ieva Nīmane (bagpipes, kokle) led by Guntars Prānis. Concert programme Vox Chiara A CD was also recorded in 2020, the prestigious edition BBC music magazine it was listed as the best classic Christmas album of the year. Words of praise Riga school of singers dedicated by such reputable international publications as The independent And New Music Journal. Program Vox Chiara sheds light on the time when sacred music was still dominated by the Gregorian choral and at the same time various secular genres flourished, in which improvisation and local musical traditions played a very important role.
Vocal group Riga school of singers was born in 1995 as a special ensemble for the authentic interpretation of early music, especially Gregorian choral, and has developed into a collective with a very broad and varied repertoire. One of the group’s main goals is to play music on a high artistic and professional level, which is reflected in their concerts in Latvia and abroad, as well as regular recordings.
on 27 December a vocal group will perform at the festival at 19.00 Ancient art of RigaUģis Prauliņš (electronics, keyboards), instrumental group led by Pēteras Vaickovskis, playing Mass and interludes by Uģis Prauliņš The gunman. The work was nominated for the Latvian Great Music Award 2020 as New Work of the Year. In the composition, the composer referred to the mass of the Renaissance composer Johannes Okeghem of the same name, creating an atmospheric and unique musical painting. Prauliņš is a researcher of musical styles, discovering the common in the different: in this composition, the order of polyphony of the 15th and 16th centuries is organically combined with the rebellious spirit of freedom of 20th century rock music. Mass and interludes The gunman it is about each person’s personal struggles, which often turn into common struggles of all, with victories and defeats, moments of strength and weakness, yet an endless longing for peace.
on 28 and 29 December at 7.00 pm with a solo concert Tribute to Frederic Chopin Pianist Andrejs Osokins will perform at the Christmas festival. An artist who stands out for his versatility: he is equally brilliant and sensitive to the music of French chansons, Western European classics and contemporary composers. Andrejs Osokins is a brilliant and charismatic soloist, a reliable chamber musician in the ensemble and concertmaster for vocalists. He has won laurels at the world’s top piano competitions, including the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Tel Aviv, the Long-Thibault International Competition in Paris, the Leeds International Piano Competition and the Queen Elizabeth International Piano Competition in Brussels.
The aristocrat of the piano keys, Frédéric Chopin is one of the greatest melodists in the history of music. The piano in his music sings both as an intimate human voice and as a monumental symphony orchestra, revealing a nuanced and poetic range of emotion, stark contrasts and a brilliant national colour. Along with Chopin’s compositions, the concert will feature the transparent piano suite by Ukrainian living classicist Valentin Silvestrov Kitschy music and the Sonata in Siminor by the lion piano virtuoso Ferenc Liszt. It is the culmination of Liszt’s work, covering a whole life course, the fight against evil and the joy of love.
on 31 December h 19.00 Christmas party in the spirit of the new year invites you to celebrate the holidays with compositions by Johann Strauss on the program New Year’s concert and Viennese waltz, which will be directed by Mārtiņš Ozoliņš, Chief Conductor of the Latvian National Opera. In the first part of the concert, Aurelia Šimkus will play one of the beautiful piano concertos by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, while in the second part the music of the waltz king Johann Strauss will shine and it is as if it was created for the atmosphere of the anniversary celebration – it is not for nothing that the famous Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra has been celebrating the New Year’s concert with the music of Strauss since 1941. The operettas and dances composed by Strauss always create a festive mood, and it seems that the composer in them remembers us with a gracious smile the wonderful side of the sweetness of life.
The end of the festival on January 7 at 19.00 coincides with the time when the Orthodox world will celebrate Christmas. The Latvian Radio Choir under the direction of Sigvardas Kļavas will perform the programme Orthodox prayers and chants. The sacred music performances of the Latvian Radio Choir and conductor Sigvardas Kļavas have always touched the hearts of listeners both in Latvia and around the world, garnering commendable reviews from prestigious publications such as Gramophone, The Guardian and other.
The concert will feature sacred choral music by Valentin Silvestrov, Krzysztof Penderecki and Georg Peleč. The living Ukrainian classic Valentin Silvestrov is a master of poetic transparency in his music. His artistic setting: “Let it be melancholy – it is the meeting of the soul with eternity”. Silvestrov’s musical language is close to the Renaissance in its simplicity and etherealness, and in his choral works the composer’s inimitable sense of beauty and sophistication of sound is especially evident. Latvian grandmaster Georgs Pelēcis preaches beauty, humility, reflection on the positive and the desire for the ideal in his sacred choral compositions. But the religious choral works of the Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki are permeated by the inner confession of man, the power of revelation and the ability to see mercy in suffering, which is vividly revealed in his dramatic In the song of the cherubs.
Tickets: www.bilesuparadize.lv
