Participants:
Baiba Skride, violin
Diāna Jaunzeme–Portnaja, organ
Latvian National Symphony Orchestra
Conductor Jānis Liepiņš
The opening concert of the Jūrmala Festival will feature the world-famous violinist Baiba Skride, organist Diāna Jaunzeme–Portnaja, the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra and conductor Jānis Liepiņš!
Dzintari Concert Hall on 16 June at 20.00 invites you to the opening concert of the Jūrmala Festival, where the world-famous violinist Baiba Skride, organist Diāna Jaunzeme–Portnaja, the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra and conductor Jānis Liepiņš will perform. The magnificent symphonic music program will include French romantic Camille Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3 (“Organ”) and Dance of Death, Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Violin Concerto, worthy of the brilliance of Hollywood film music, and the brilliant Leonard Bernstein’s overture to the operetta Candide.
The soloist of Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s violin concerto will be the well-known violinist Baiba Skride, whose performances in Latvia are a great and rare event. Baiba Skride’s natural musicality has been loved by many of the most prominent conductors and orchestras of our time. She regularly performs with such orchestras as the Berlin Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Boston Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and others. She has close collaborations with outstanding conductors such as Christoph Eschenbach, Edward Gardner, Suzanna Melki, Andris Nelsons, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Dima Slobodenyuk, Tugan Sokhiev and others.
Among the events of the 2022/23 season in the artist’s calendar are the performance and recording of Shostakovich’s Second Violin Concerto for Deutche Grammophone with Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the British premiere of Victoria Borisova-Ollas’ violin concerto, A Portrait of a Lady by Swan Lake, with Cristian Măcelaru and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Gubaidulina’s Offertorium with the NHK Symphony Orchestra.
Jānis Liepiņš is one of the most promising and talented conductors of his generation, a sought-after conductor of opera music who regularly collaborates with outstanding opera singers. Since 2019, he has been the first kapellmeister of the National Opera Theatre in Mannheim. At the Latvian National Opera, he conducted the performances Carmen, The Rake’s Progress, Die Fledermaus, Madama Butterfly, The Flying Dutchman, ballets Antonija #Silmači, Romeo and Juliet, Raimonda, Bajadera and others.
The 20th century Austrian composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold was declared a genius at the age of ten, he was praised by the greatest composers of the time, calling Korngold the “new Mozart”. In the 1930s, he emigrated to Hollywood, becoming a prominent film music composer. In 1938, Korngold received an Oscar for the music for the film The Adventures of Robin Hood. The composer dedicated his violin concerto to Gustav Mahler’s widow, Alma Mahler-Werfel. The romantic piece contains the charm of Hollywood’s golden age, charming melodies from movies, so it is called a “Hollywood concerto”.
The musical handwriting of Camille Saint-Saëns was influenced by French national traditions, examples of the art of Bach, Handel and German romantics, as well as the programmatic symphonism of Liszt. Saint-Saëns is aptly described by Romain Rolland: “He represents the noble classical spirit, the high encyclopaedic nature of musical culture.” Saint-Saëns wrote Symphony No. 3 at the peak of his career as a composer. The organ part is organically included in the piece, the symphony’s music stands out with vivid imagery, grace and brilliant instrumentation. However, Saint-Saëns’ impressive Dance of Death was based on a poem by Henri Casalis, which, according to an old French superstition, contemplates the appearance of death in dance.
Leonard Bernstein’s overture to the operetta Candide wittily, with a touch worthy of Rossini, opens a musical curtain for the mood that sparkles throughout the operetta.
As previously announced, the ninth Jūrmala Festival, the grandest summer musical event, will take place at Dzintari Concert Hall with ten magnificent concerts from July 15 to 23, bringing together excellent Latvian and foreign musicians. World-famous violinist Baiba Skride, tenor Aleksandr Antonenko, cellist Matthew Barley, piano virtuosos the Three Osokins, accordionist Ksenija Sidorova, the Jūrmala Festival Orchestra and others will perform at the concerts. The special guests of the festival will be Broadway musical stars from London. The most beautiful opera arias, the concert performance of Zigmars Liepiņš opera Notre-Dame de Paris, and the concert Born in Latvia with the participation of great and rising stars will also be played.
The festival is supported by Jūrmala Municipality.
The project is co-financed by REACT-EU funding for mitigating the consequences of the pandemic crisis.
