Marina Rebeka un Sondra Radvanovska GALA koncerts. DIVAS DĪVAS

World famous opera stars Marina Rebeka and Sondra Radvanovsky performs at Dzintari Concert Hall on 28 June

On 28 June 2020, acclaimed soloists Marina Rebeka (Latvia) and Sondra Radvanovsky (USA/Canada) - visiting Latvia for the first time - will perform at Dzintari Concert Hall.
Lauded by critics and admired by audiences, both divas can boast varied repertoire, success on stage and major musical awards. Their first concert together is therefore particularly intriguing. Considering that two world-class sopranos rarely meet on the same stage, the audience at Dzintari will be witness to a truly unique encounter.
The concert programme includes a selection of the most beautiful scenes from popular operas by Bellini, Giordano, Leoncavallo, Mascagni, Massenet, Mozart, Puccini, and Verdi. The music will be performed by the exquisite Latvian Festival Orchestra, conducted by Guntis Kuzma - one of the top Latvian conductors of the new generation.

In the recent years, the career of Marina Rebeka has reached unprecedented heights. She is regarded as one of the best performers of the titular character in Verdi's La traviata currently, and with good reason. Similarly, she has been highly praised for her performances in Bellini's Norma, Donizetti's Anna Bolena, Gounod's Faust, Verdi's Simon Boccanegra and Il trovatore, and Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. In the 2019/2020 season Marina Rebeka performs at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse, Hamburg State Opera, Salzburg Festival, Vienna State Opera, Konzerthaus Dortmund, and the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Lately she has also been enthusiastically received at the Paris Éléphant Paname art and dance center, Bordeaux National Opera, and the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino festival.
Marina Rebeka established her own label Prima Classic a few years ago, releasing her third solo album Spirito, and the recording of Verdi's La traviata. The singer announced her fourth solo album Elle, a collection of French composers' opera arias, in mid-January 2020. A few days later, a prominent international jury of music critics declared Marina Rebeka this year's recipient of the prestigious International Classical Music Award (ICMA) in the Artist of the Year category.
Critics have compared Marina's singing to that of larks and nightingales, described her chest voice colorations as "wine-dark", but perhaps the highest praise is found in Opéra Magazine which lists Marina alongside Maria Callas, Joan Sutherland, Beverly Sills, Montserrat Caballé and Mariella Devia. Her varied repertoire and voice abilities that permit her to reach the heights of lyric as well as dramatic roles, already makes the case for considering Marina Rebeka a soprano assoluta.
While Sondra Radvanovsky performs a diverse repertoire, her performances of Verdi and bel canto operas have been particularly highly praised. In the 2019/2020 season Sondra Radvanovsky performs the titular role in Dvořák's Rusalka at the Canadian Opera Company, gives concerts in Vancouver, the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Baden-Baden, participates in the concert performance of Bellini's Il pirata at Paris Opera, and sings Aida in Deutsche Oper Berlin and Vienna State Opera.
Sondra Radvanovsky has sang on most of the world's greatest opera stages, including the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Zürich Opera House, and the Royal Opera House in London among others. She has performed concerts with Boston Symphony Orchestra and Verbier Festival Orchestra led by James Levine, with Chicago Symphony Orchestra and James Conlon, and with Bavarian State Orchestra and Zubin Mehta. Sondra Radvanovsky has released several albums, among the most popular of which is the one recorded together with her former stage partner Dmitri Hvorostovsky. The singer has also released a DVD of the opera Cyrano de Bergerac performed with Plácido Domingo, and has hosted the popular Met: Live in HD broadcasts.
On the 28 June concert the audience will be presented scenes from Verdi's The Force of Destiny and The Sicilian Vespers, Puccini's Manon Lescaut and Tosca, as well as Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, Giordano's Andrea Chénier, and Mascagni's Le Cid and Hérodiade. The voices of the two prima donne will come together in two scenes from Bellini's bel canto masterpiece Norma. The Latvian Festival Orchestra will perform the popular overture from Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, the emotionally forceful opening of Verdi's The Force of Destiny, and the delightful intermezzo from Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana.
Conductor Guntis Kuzma has been leading the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra for six seasons, and has conducted Liepāja Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonietta Rīga, Sinfonia concertante and the Latvian Festival Orchestra in concerts. In 2018, Guntis Kuzma received the Grand Music Award of Latvia in the Outstanding Interpretation category for his performance of Ādolfs Skulte’s Symphony No. 5 in the Grand Concert of Latvian Symphonic Music with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, and the solo in Sebastian Fagerlund’s Clarinette concerto with Sinfonietta Rīga and conductor Normunds Šnē. He is one of the top clarinetists in Latvia, and the docent at Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music.
The Latvian Festival Orchestra (LFO) brings together top musicians of Latvian symphony and chamber orchestras. LFO first performed in 2015 in a concert with Marina Rebeka, led by Italian conductor Speranza Scappucci, in Liepāja concert hall Great Amber opening event series, and later has accompanied her for the concert performance of Donizetti's Maria Stuarda. Under the baton of Karel Mark Chichon, LFO's performance of Der Rosenkavalier was awarded Latvian cultural award “Kilograms kultūras" in 2017. LFO has participated in the critically acclaimed recording of Verdi's La traviata with Marina Rebeka in the titular role, and performed with international stars such as Elīna Garanča, Hibla Gerzmava, Joshua Bell, Sergei Krylov, David Geringas, and Denis Matsuev.
The concert is presented by concert agency “Laba mūzika”. Tickets available from “Biļešu paradīze” and online at bilesuparadize.lv.