KREMERATA BALTICA WEEKEND IN LATVIA

This June Kremerata Baltica goes to Cēsis, Latvia to give annual summer concerts for which they have been well known in Latvia. During the weekend of June 11th chamber orchestra will give three concerts together with soloists: in St. John’s Church, in the New Castle of Cēsis and in the Concert Hall “Cēsis“.

This time Kremerata has prepared a special program of music by the Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks who is celebrating his 70th birthday this year. Audiences will also be able to hear pieces by some of the greatest classical music composers of the last centuries.

In the centre of this year’s Kremerata Baltica festival will be Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks and his miraculous chamber music pieces that prove his significance in today’s modern music context. Alongside with the music by Vasks, there will be music from four centuries and their respective music grands: from Mozart and Beethoven to the most important composer of the XX century – Sofia Gubaidulina – whose most distinguished composition The Piano Concert “Introitus” Kremerata Baltica will perform together with the French pianist Claire-Marie Leger, exactly on the day of S. Gubaidulina’s 85th birthday.

Saturday, June 11, at 15:00 Kremerata Baltica will invite to the concert “Afternoon with Pēteris Vasks” in St. John’s Church, where the audience will be able to hear the Quattro Baltica formed by four musicians from the chamber orchestra – Džeraldas Bidva (violin), Madara Pētersone (violin), Santa Vižine (viola) and Pēteris Čirkšis (cello). The program of this concert consists of pieces by Luciano Berio, Witold Lutoslawski, and the 3 string quartets and the Fruit of Silence by Pēteris Vasks. The later is a piece whose lyrics’ author is Mother Teresa, and which the composer himself describes as a quiet meditation: “On the road posts there are five signs – prayer, faith, love, worship, and peace. With this composition I want to remind everyone about the existence of such road.”

Sunday, June 12, everybody will be welcomed to two concerts. At 15:00 in The New Castle of Cēsis the percussionist of Kremerata Baltica – Andrei Pushkarev – will invite everyone to the concert “My Favorite things” where the program has been created by the interpreter himself. A. Pushkarev has chosen to play variations of his favourite music themes and melodies by Pēteris Vasks, Georgi Georgiev, Astor Piazzolla, and Peter Tchaikovsky, as well as his own compositions.

At the end of the weekend, on Sunday evening at 18:00, everybody is welcomed to the gala concert “The Classics of the Four Centuries” in the concert hall “Cēsis” where the spectacular French pianist Claire-Marie Leger has been invited to perform together with Kremerata Baltica by Maestro Gidon Kremer himself. This concert will remain in audience’s memory with pieces by Pēteris Vasks, the unique Sofia Gubaidulina, as well as the great Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and others. Conductor – Julien Masmondet.