At the end of September, the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of its chief conductor Guntis Kuzma, will go on an autumn concert tour around Latvia, performing in Madona, Valmiera, Daugavpils and Jelgava. The concert programme will feature pianist Daniils Mickevičs as a special guest.
In the 2025 autumn concert tour programme the piano concerto by Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg will touch the audience with its restrained beauty and Nordic charm, while Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No 7 will shine with the clarity of the Viennese classical school and the power and melodiousness of the composer’s genius. The concert programme will be given special value by the overture “The Beautiful Venetian” by the legendary exiled Latvian composer Gundaris Pone.
“For the second decade already, the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra has been touring the Latvian Municipalities giving concerts – for us this is one of the most significant events of the year,” says Uldis Lipskis, the director of the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra. “The chance to perform together with the brilliant young Latvian pianist Daniils Mickevičs is the benefit of our Orchestra’s cooperation with the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music and the Jāzeps Vītols International Piano Competition organized by the Academy. A stunningly beautiful programme in lovely Latvian cities – we are looking forward to meeting the audience!”
The concerts will be held on:
September 26 at 19:00 – at the Madona Municipality Culture Centre;
September 27 at 18:00 – at the Valmiera Culture Centre;
September 28 at 16:00 – at the Daugavpils Unity House;
October 1 at 19:00 – at the Jelgava Culture House.
The Concert will open with Gundaris Pone's delicate and graceful overture “The Beautiful Venetian”, which is the composer’s dedication to his Italian-born wife. By the way, the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra has recorded several of G. Pone's works in their music album “Portraits”, released in 2024, and this album has been highly appreciated by international critics.
The programme continues with Edvard Grieg's Concerto for Piano and Orchestra full of love and joy, which is considered the composer's greatest large-form work and the most complete expression of the Norwegian national romantic school. This ambitious work will be performed by the young piano virtuoso Daniils Mickevičs, who is one of the brightest pianists of the new generation, whose talent has gained recognition both in Latvia and abroad. The young musician is currently continuing his studies at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music, in the class led by Professor Sergejs Osokins. He has advanced his knowledge in master classes given by outstanding pianists and is a frequent laureate of international competitions, he has also won the Jāzeps Vītols International Piano Competition in 2023.
In the second part of the Concert the audience will be able to enjoy the Symphony No 7 written by the great symphonist Ludwig van Beethoven, which Richard Wagner once called the “apotheosis of dance”. Composer and conductor Anthony Hopkins said the following of Beethoven's Symphony No 7: “Perhaps more than any other, the Seventh Symphony gives us a sense of true spontaneity; the notes seem to fly off the page while we are carried away by a stream of inspired creativity. Beethoven himself spoke of it fondly calling it 'one of my best works'. Who are we to dispute that?”
Concert tickets are available at "Biļešu Paradīze" ticket offices.
