Senior Choir Concert Controversy: 12-Hour Workday and No Chairs or Audience

12-hour work is no longer possible

Preparations for the concert of senior groups in the Riga circus will start from nine in the morning, and the performance will end around nine or ten in the evening.

“Now do the math, there’s basically no time to go to the small house!” said the participant of the concert of senior groups, emphasizing that people of a respectable age are no longer able to work 12 hours a day.

The organizers, however, justified that the rehearsals were planned in exactly the same way as at the previous Song Festival.

“The rehearsal schedule is exactly the same, each part of the rehearsal has its own time period, up to one and a half, two hours, then there is a break, another rehearsal, a break, and then in the evening there is the beautiful, big concert,” explained the XXVII General Latvian Song and XVII Dance festival communication manager Inga Vasiļjeva.

The invitation to bring your own folding chairs is disturbing

The seniors are also worried about another message they received – everyone should bring their own folding chair.

“Imagine what it looks like when an eighty-five-year-old lady either wears a national costume, or has that national costume on one arm, a stool in the other hand, and now she’s trying to get on the bus to get to the circus in time,” said the angry senior citizen.

Iveta Ārgale, the producer of the senior choir concert, revealed that the idea of ​​”grabbing your beloved foldable bench” belonged to one of the choir’s chief conductors.

“Why not? We’ll figure out where a person can sit with that little bench, but there’s no way we’d leave the seniors standing!” emphasized Argale.

The producer explained that the singers who will perform during the concert will be able to sit on the podiums. The director of the Riga Circus, Māra Pāvula, also comforted that “no one will stay standing”.

“There are chairs in the Riga circus. We don’t have our big stands yet, which will come at the end of this year, but right now we are building special stands for each event – temporary stands, we provide chairs,” Pāvula said.

The conductor has announced that there will be no audience for the concert

The seniors were also disappointed by the information that the large senior choir will not have an audience at all; it was announced to the participants by the conductor of the choir. Are there really senior choirs, many of whom have traveled a long way, rehearsed all day, and then from seven to ten in the evening they will sing alone in the circus premises and be left without an audience?

Vasiljeva explained that there will be spectators, and tickets for this free concert can be obtained from June 12 at the ticket offices of “Bilešu paradīze”. The concert will also be recorded.

“It will be a multi-camera recording, which will then be shown on several TV channels and also on the website of the holiday, as it can be enjoyed long after the holiday,” Vasilieva informed.

The chosen concert venue is called humiliating

However, the senior citizen is also confused about the chosen concert venue and even calls it humiliating, believing that Esplanade or “Vērmanītis” would be more suitable for this event.

On the other hand, Vasilieva pointed out that in 2018, when the concert was held on the Esplanade, it rained during the rehearsal, and the seniors were both cold and uncomfortable, so this year it was decided to hold the concert in a closed room so that “the seniors are not dependent on the sun or the heat, neither from rain nor from other weather conditions”. After evaluating all possible event and concert hall venues in Riga, a decision was made to hold the senior choir concert in the newest cultural space – the Riga Circus.

“We have just finished the energy efficiency project, we have renovated the building and we have a completely new, modern ventilation system, so that we really won’t have to worry about it,” confirmed the director of Riga Circus. “Both the size of this room and all the new technologies will ensure that both the choir and the audience will be able to feel comfortable; there will be something for everyone to breathe, and no one will be too hot or too cold.”

Ārgale also acknowledged that the Riga Circus is a beautiful cultural place and a suitable space for a “small, sweet and nice concert”.

“The choirs will stand on the platforms on the first and second floor, like a half-moon, and then there will be aisles on both sides, and the audience will be opposite,” said the producer.

Perhaps at some point the communication got stuck, there was some misunderstanding, but the organizers promise all the seniors that it will be a warm and nice event, and remind that the Song Festival is thus returning to the Riga circus, because the Song Festival events have already been held here in the 20s of the last century .

CONTEXT:

The XXVII General Latvian Song and XVII Dance Festival will be held in Riga from June 30 to July 9, 2023, its main focus will be the 150th anniversary of the Song Festival tradition. The festival is organized by the Latvian National Culture Center, which is a state institution subordinate to the Ministry of Culture.