Well-known brass musicians will perform at the Liepāja International Festival of Stars

On Saturday, March 4, two greats of modern brass music will take the stage of the festival – trumpeter Sergejs Nakaryakovs and trombonist Kristians Lindberg, who is a genius trombonist, a vital conductor and also a composer.

At the Star Festival, he will play solo in his trombone concerto “Black Hawk Eagle” and will conduct two other works, namely “Trumpet Concerto” by Meczislav Weinberg and Jean Sibelius’ popular Second Symphony – Manifesto of Finnish Independence.

Not afraid of competition, another widely recognized wind instrument virtuoso – trumpeter Nakaryakovs – will take the stage at Weinberg’s concert.

Nicknamed the Paganini of trumpets, the Israeli-born musician Nakaryakov is one of the world’s most sought-after trumpeters.

Nakaryakov’s instrument sings out melodies composed for wind instruments and voice as well as strings with incredible lightning speed.

In addition to this concert, the 31st Liepāja International Star Festival also offers exciting chamber music concerts, as well as symphonic and jazz music evenings.

On February 25, the Liepāja International Festival of Stars will be opened for the first time by the concert of the laureates of the Latvian Young Player Artists Competition, which will be crowned by the performance of the globally sought-after Latvian violinist Kristīne Balana. Together with the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra under the leadership of its chief conductor Guntas Kuzma, she will play Antonín Dvořák’s “Violin Concerto”.

On Thursday, March 2, the Riga Chamber Choir “Ave Sol” under the leadership of Jurģ Cābuļis, a representative of the new generation of choir conductors and chief conductor of Dziesmusvētki, will play the songs of the masters of Latvian choral music. The musicians of the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra and Aleksandra Spitzberga will also play together with the chamber choir.

On Friday, March 10, the Star Festival offers the audience a solo concert by the internationally recognized Latvian pianist Vestarda Šimkus, in which both the fantastic galaxy writings of Alexander Scriabin and the intriguing works of the lesser-known Félix Blumenfeld will be played.

The closing concert of the festival on March 11 will be a celebration for symphony jazz lovers. It will be a unique opportunity to hear the velvety voice of Ola Onabule, the world famous jazz singer born in London and trained in Nigeria. Like no one else, he knows how to weave jazz and soul into one fabric, which you can see by listening to a selection from Onabule’s latest album “Point Less”.

On the other hand, the Triple Concerto “Trio Colossus” for tenor saxophone, contrabass and percussion instruments, composed by the artistic director of the Latvian Radio big band Kārļas Vanagas, will be premiered this evening.

The Liepāja International Stars Festival was once started as the International Pianism Stars Festival in 1993 by the former artistic director of the Liepaja Symphony Orchestra, Imants Resnis. Around 200 pianists from all over the world have performed at the festival.