The 28th Liepāja International Stars Festival. FESTIVAL OPENING CONCERT

It is for the 28th time that Liepāja International Stars Festival will present to the audience unforgettable moments of classical, jazz, modern and vocal music in interpretation of outstanding musicians. In five concerts given in the Great Hall of “GREAT AMBER” and in the Jurgelaitis Chamber Hall, it will feature renowned conductors Gintaras Rinkevicius, Andris Veismanis, and Atvars Lakstīgala, Liepāja Symphony Orchestra and Latvian Radio Big Band, singers Maija Kovaļevska and Maria Mendes, virtuosos Michael Pipoquinha  un Karel Dohnal, pianists Armands Ābols and Wilhem Latchoumia, a premiere of Ēriks Ešenvalds’ Concerto for Saxophone with Oskars Petrauskis as soloist, the Riga Chamber Choir AVE SOL male group, and Orests Silabriedis. Supported by: the Ministry of Culture of the Latvian Republic, the State Culture Capital Foundation and Liepāja city.

The festival opening concert will present two symphonic capriccios. Naval officer Rimsky-Korsakov’s music offers a wide range of Spanish rhythms, in turn his countryman Tchaikovsky revives his lost joviality in the sunny Rome, and his lively Capriccio reflects Italian folk songs.

Besides these masterpieces of the 19th century, the audience will hear Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major conveying the sparkling vitality of the 20th century post-war Europe.  It will be a pleasure to listen to this opus of bright and wild joy performed by a soloist born in France - Wilhelm Lachoumia. The French press write that fairies have put a spell on Lachoumia. The pianist makes the most complicated contemporary music sound captivating like a crime story, his connection with audience is magic.

The concert will close with a recenly written piece – Ēriks Ešenvalds’ Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra “Arctic Visions: Sea”. The composer is renowned as a Latvian master of meditation and a virtuoso landscapist who is very familiar with the northern nature. His “Liepāja Concerto” was devoted to the magic of Arctic night. In his recent composition, Ešenvalds is depicting the harsh wilderness of the northern sea with an inimitably beautiful sound of Oskars Petrauskis’ saxophone trailing like a shining pattern in the sky above.   

Wilhem LATCHOUMIA / piano (France)

Oskars PETRAUSKIS / saxophone

Gintaras RINKEVICIUS/ conductor

Liepāja Symphony Orchestra

Program:

Nikolay RIMSKY-KORSAKOV - “Capriccio Espagnol”, Op. 34

Maurice RAVEL - Piano Concerto in G major

Pyotr TCHAIKOVSKY - “Capriccio Italian”

Ēriks EŠENVALDS - Concerto for Saxophone “Arctic Visions: Sea” (premiere)

 

Discounts:

• School children, students, teachers, seniors - 2,- EUR
  
• Family ticket " Goda ģimenes karte" holders - 50%

 Dear visitors of Liepāja Symphony Orchestra concerts!

Concert Hall “Great Amber” already awaits its visitors an hour before the event. 

Tickets for the events at the Concert Hall must be purchased by each visitor

For visitors in wheelchairs and their companions we offer special seats in the stalls by prior arrangement. Special tickets can only be reserved and purchased at the Info centre at “Great Amber” by phone +371 63424555, e-mail [email protected] 

 www.liepajassimfoniskais.lv