In October the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra will go on a concert tour around Latvia, delighting the audience with an artistically magnificent programme, where, alongside world-renowned classics, such as Jean Sibelius and Antonín Dvořák, the works of Liepāja-born composer Agris Engelmanis will also come to life.
In appreciation of loyalty demonstrated by music lovers from all over Latvia, who regularly visit our home place in the “Lielais dzintars” Concert Hall, this time the Orchestra will visit them, and under the direction of the chief conductor Guntis Kuzma the Orchestra will perform:
On 4 October at 19:00 at Kalni Community Centre;
On 5 October at 18:00 at “Lielais dzintars” Concert Hall;
On 10 October at 19:00 at “Ulbrokas pērle”;
On 11 October at 18:00 at Unity House of Daugavpils;
On 12 October at 18:00 at Smiltene Community Centre.
The tour programme will feature the Violin Concerto written by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, which is one of the most outstanding and frequently performed examples of this genre. This work has a rich symphonic pattern, and the orchestral sound in this work is so significant that it could also be called a symphony with a solo violin voice. At the same time, the solo violin part is particularly virtuosic and technically complex, and these expressive nuances will be revealed by the brilliant violinist Paula Šūmane, who is known for her powerful and emotionally saturated interpretations.
Although works by Agris Engelmanis are known to the general public mainly in the form of choral songs, and his songs were performed at the Nationwide Latvian Song Festival numerous times, the composer, who was born and has spent his entire life in Liepāja, has left behind a significant wealth of symphonic, vocal symphonic and chamber music compositions.
The finely crafted composition Zīmējums sēpijas tonī / Illustration in Sepia is permeated by sophisticated harmonies and an elegant musical line, where melodies belonging to Latvian folk music are easily recognizable as well.
Jēkabs Ozoliņš, a friend and like-minded fellow of Agris Engelmanis, once said in an interview to Orests Silabriedis that “in music composed by Agris Engelmanis great musical depths are hidden behind the apparent simplicity at times: there is not a single note in the compositions that has not been lived through in the author’s soul many times”.
The Latvian concert tour programme also includes the Symphony No.9 “From the New World” by Antonín Dvořák, the greatest composer of the Czech Romantic era, which was created under the influence of both the traditional music of Native Americans and African-American Christian music. As a newcomer to the US music scene, Dvořák proved to be one of the first to hear in the music of the indigenous people of North America a fantastic source of untapped opportunities, which he successfully used in his symphony, which also is about longing for the homeland, creative fulfilment and self-affirmation.
Tickets for the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra concerts can be purchased at “Biļešu paradīze” ticket offices.
The Liepāja Symphony Orchestra's Latvian concert tour is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia, the Liepāja City, and financial support is also received from the Kurzeme cultural program implemented by the Kurzeme planning region in the State Cultural Capital Foundation special-purpose program “Historical Latvian Lands Development Program”.
