Intriguing percussion concerto at the end of the 145th season

The Liepāja Symphony Orchestra will conclude its 145th concert season with a special program on May 16 at 6:00 PM. Andris Dzenītis' Southern Concerto for Metal Percussion and Orchestra will have its world premiere at the Concert Hall "Lielais dzintars", with Guntars Freibergs performing as the soloist.

For many years, the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra has been a dedicated promoter of Latvian composers’ music, making it one of its main artistic priorities.

At the season finale concert, the orchestra continues this mission by presenting new, vibrant works to the audience, offering a special event – the world premiere of Andris Dzenītis’ new opus “Southern Concerto for Metal Percussion and Orchestra.”

“I worked on this concerto for almost a year. In terms of the work process, this was definitely one of the most complex and challenging works I have written so far. I hope it is also one of the most impressive. Almost half an hour of dynamic, equatorial sun-drenched music for western gamelanist Guntars Freibergs,” says the composer.

“Southern Concerto” is inspired by the rich musical and ritual traditions of the island of Bali. By fulfilling his long-held dream of visiting Bali, the composer gained rare insight into local communities and ceremonies usually inaccessible to tourists. This experience—encountering gamelan music, ritual dances, and unique cultural expressions—became the foundation for the creation of the concerto.

The solo part of the concerto is written exclusively for metal percussion instruments, thus imitating the characteristic sounds of the gamelan with Western instruments. As the author himself says, each of the four movements of the concerto is dedicated to a significant Balinese tradition or artifact: “Gangsa” – the leading instrument of the gamelan ensemble, “Abuang Peteng” – a religious dance, “Ogoh Ogoh” – the colorful demon statues and their burning ritual, and “Kecak” – the famous “monkey chant” or fire dance. These images and rituals are revealed not as direct illustrations, but as a Western composer’s personal commentary and interpretation of the world of Balinese culture.

“A different culture, different timbres, something unusual and a bit unaccustomed to modern concert halls,” says Guntars Freibergs, to whom the solo part in this intriguing new work is dedicated, one of the brightest contemporary Latvian musicians, who has been nominated for the Great Music Prize several times. He is a multiple laureate of international competitions and performs as a soloist with orchestras in many places around the world.

“I could best describe Andras Dzenītis’ work “Southern Concert” for percussion instruments and symphony orchestra with the words – bright, vivid, solemn. When learning it, I am most attracted to the festive atmosphere, the character that the work creates. For a moment, I feel like I am at a gamelan festival somewhere in Indonesia, where the sounds of the instruments alternate with the everyday hum.”

The concert program will also feature the beautiful operatic interlude “Walk to the Paradise Garden” by the German-born English composer Frederick Delius and one of the most significant symphonic works of the Romantic era – Johannes Brahms’s First Symphony, which was created after a long and careful period of the composer’s self-development. Brahms worked on this symphony for nearly twenty years, burdened by the weight of Beethoven’s legacy and his desire to create a work worthy of continuing the classical tradition.