“Over time, the festival has changed, and we have opened our doors wider to soloists of other musical instruments, as well as to music genres. At the same time, we always want to preserve the tradition of the Pianism Star Festival,” says Guntis Kuzma, artistic director of the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra. “At the opening concert of the festival, we have a soloist there will be a pianist, and in the final week of the festival, a solo evening of piano music is planned, for which pianist Aurelija Šimkus has prepared a stylistically rich program. We are also continuing the started tradition of offering listeners not only classical music, but also jazz.”
The tradition-rich festival, which once began as the International Festival of Pianist Stars, has been attracting both listeners and musicians to Liepaja for more than 30 years in the spring.
This year, among the participants of the festival, the audience will see the Canadian pianist Louis Lortie, the German violinist Katrina ten Hagen and the French oboist Celine Mounet, the Finnish conductor Juhu Kangas, the State Academic Choir Latvia and internationally recognized opera singers, pianist Aurelia Šimkus, jazz musician John Ruocco and other outstanding stage artists.
The Liepāja International Festival of Stars program includes five concerts – the audience will have the opportunity to hear symphonic music composed by Frideric Chopin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Pēter Vaskas. Concert halls Big Amber A chamber jazz and piano solo evening is expected in Dzintars Jurgelaish’s chamber hall, while at the end of the festival the monumental spiritual vocal-instrumental piece of the Italian operatic genius Giuseppe Verdi will be played Requiem.
At the opening of the festival, this Saturday, March 9, at 6 p.m., the Canadian pianist Louis Lortie will take the stage with the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra under the leadership of conductor Gunta Kuzmas to play Frédéric Chopin’s First Piano Concerto together. For more than three decades, Louis Lortie has built his career as one of the most versatile pianists in the world.
For the second year in a row, the winners of the Valdas Vikmanis Latvian Young Player Artists Competition – violinists Elza Siliņa and Lueta Žagare, cellist Reinis Rudzītis, percussionist Sonja Misiņa and trombonist Dāvis Matīss Leišavnieks – will take the stage together with the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra at the opening concert of the Liepāja International Festival of Stars.
“In this concert, we will be able to meet both the enthusiasm and energy of youth in the performance of our future music stars, and enjoy an excellent interpreter of Chopin’s music, whose fingers the piano literally sings,” says Guntis Kuzma.
On March 15 at 7 p.m., a jazz program will delight the audience of the star festival Trio Elpo together with saxophonist and clarinetist John Ruocco, while on March 21 at 7 p.m., pianist Aurelia Šimkus will give a solo concert, with whom piano lovers will be able to experience an exquisite journey through time and get acquainted with wonderful pieces by Philip Glass, Sergei Prokofiev and Frederic Chopin.
On March 16, at 7 p.m., the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra will perform under the direction of Finnish conductor Juha Kangas. The program will meet the timeless elegance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the loving harmonies of Peter Vaska.
At the end of the ambitious festival, on March 23, at 6 p.m., the great Italian opera genius Giuseppe Verdi will perform Requiem – a monumental piece of spiritual vocal-instrumental music, in which the composer put all his talent as a genius melodist and master of dramaturgy of great musical forms.
The Liepāja Symphony Orchestra, led by conductor Atvaras Lakstīgalas, will perform in front of the audience with its long-time partner, the State Academic Choir Latvia and outstanding soloists – Polish soprano Joanna Zavartko, Slovenian mezzo-soprano Monika Bohinec, Ukrainian tenor Oleksandr Chuvpils and Latvian National Opera bass Rihards Machanovskis.
The full program of the Star Festival can be found on the website of the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra www.lso.lv/festivali/zvaigznu-festivals.
Tickets for the festival concerts are available Ticket paradises in the network www.bilesuparadize.lv/lv/organizer/50.
2024-03-04 11:34:40
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