Christmas Festival. The Four Seasons of Vivaldi and Piazzolla

Performers: Daniil Bulayev  (violin), Latvian National symphony orchestra,  conductor Andris Poga 

Two part concert

Programme

Part I

Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741)
’Winter’’ from the group of violin concerts ’The Four Seasons’’

Astor Piazzolla (1921–1992)
’’The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires’’

Part II

Richard Wagner (1813–1883)
’’The Siegfried Idyll’’

Maurice Ravel(1875–1937)
’’Gypsy’’

In 2014 a large-scale concert “Born in Riga” was held in the Opera Square where the violinist Daniil Bulayev impressively introduced the local and foreign public with his heartfelt violin solo; he was only 10 years old then. The young violinist, graduate of the Emīls Dārziņš Music School, has performed together with the Latvian, Lithuanian, Russian, Armenian, Chinese symphonic and chamber orchestras, also including Kremerata Baltica, Glasperlenspiel Sinfonietta, “Moscow Virtuosi”, The State Symphony Orchestra of the Republic of Tatarstan, Makao Symphonic Orchestra. The musician participated in the festivals Avanti!, Artissimo, International Festival of Ancient Music at Rundāle, Musica mundi (Belgium), “New Talents” (Armenia), Iguazú in Concert (Argentina), Flourishing Arts (Makao), Altolivenzafestival Giovani (Italy) etc. Received the Grand Prix and 1st prize in international contests in Riga, Vilnius, Moscow, Italy, China.

Andris Poga is the Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra since the 2013/2014 season. International career of Andris Poga started when he won First Prize in the Evgeny Svetlanov International Conducting Competition in 2010. Highlights of recent seasons have included concerts with the leading orchestras of Germany, France, Italy, Japan and other countries – NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, Wiener Symphoniker, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester Hamburg, WDR Symphony Cologne, Munich Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Dresden Philharmonic, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and others. Andris has graduated the conducting department of the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music. He also studied philosophy at the University of Latvia and conducting with Uroš Lajovic at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts. Andris Poga will be the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra’s new Chief Conductor starting from the 2021/22 season.

The Latvian National Symphony Orchestra (LNSO), whose history spans nearly a century, is one of the foundations of Latvian national culture. The LNSO’s mission is to provide excellent musical performances of a wide spectrum of symphony music repertoire, to introduce Latvian listeners to the world’s classic and contemporary works and, likewise, to acquaint audiences abroad with Latvian music treasures.
One of the main aims of the LNSO involves continuously seeking and finding new audiences by creating educational programmes in a modern, creative, fresh format.
The LNSO is a five-time winner of Latvia’s highest classical music award – the Grand Music Award (1993, 2009, 2012, 2013, and 2016).
In the past six years, the LNSO has performed in Alte Oper Frankfurt and Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, in Grand Théâtre de Provence of Aix-en-Provence and in Arsenal de Metz. The orchestra’s performances include nine concerts in the renowned Crazy Day festival in Nantes, appearances in the Roque-d’Anthéron international piano festival, Bratislava concert hall, and Philharmonie de Paris. In the most recent tours, the LNSO teamed up with dazzling violinist Baiba Skride, outstanding cellist Alexander Knyazev, brilliant pianists Nicholas Angelich and Boris Berezovsky, young top talents Lukas Geniušas and Lucas Debargue.
As regards future tours, the LNSO plans to perform with Iveta Apkalna at the Philharmonie de Paris in 2021.