Participants:

Aigars Raumanis, saxophone

Reinis Tomiņš, percussion instruments

Jānis Ozols, head of concert

In the program:

Astor Piazzolla, Akira Yuyama, Jean Francois, Gabriela Ortiz, David Long, Glenn Palmer, et al.

About the program:

In the concert program “Exotic Dances” two bright young talents have joined forces – percussionist Reinis Tomiņš and saxophonist, laureate of the Latvian Great Music Prize Aigars Raumanis. It will not only be a sonically exciting journey through exotic lands, but also through the diverse world of percussion instruments – with virtuoso grace, Reinis will sound maracas, bongs, jambas, shakers, also marimba and vibraphone, perfectly harmonizing with the timbral color of Aigars’ masterful saxophone playing. The harmonious duet has chosen compositions from many different parts of the world for the program – Gabriela Ortiz plays with the rhythms of her native Mexico in her Estudio Tongolele, while the Japanese Akira Yuyama plays with the varied tones of the marimba in Divertisement, American David Long’s Practus Interruptus plays musical jokes, and Glenn Palmer looks back at the colorful 1990 Ballroom Blitz the history of dances, while the cycle “Exotic Dances” of miniatures by the great master of tango, the Argentinian Astor Piazzolla and the French Jean-Francois will be played in a new timbral form, thanks to the arrangements of Raumanis and Tomiņš.