On the eve of Christmas, December 23, a concert rich in beautiful melodies and musical surprises is expected in the Concert Hall “Cēsis” together with the artists of this year’s residence of the Concert Hall – Kristīne, Margarita and Roberts Balanas.
At the Balana family concert, listeners will be able to hear a suite from Peter Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Nutcracker, compositions by Vivaldi, Sibelius and Ravel, as well as songs by Sigur Rós and Pink Floyd for the electric violin. It should be reminded that Roberts Balanas has also gained recognition with his own performances of popular and rock music for violin. Last summer, the media was overwhelmed by the news that Elton John had also appreciated the young musician’s performance in arranging his song “I’m Stil Standing”.
The authors of the concert program created for Christmas Eve are violinists Kristīne and Roberts Balanas and cellist Margarita Balanas. The young musicians who have already proved their worth on the world’s big stages were the artists of the Cēsis Concert Hall’s residence this year, and the residence is closed with a Christmas concert. According to the musicians themselves, this has been a very busy and glorious year for them in the Cēsis Concert Hall, and they look back with satisfaction on the live concert with Sinfonietta Rīga and conductor Ben Palmer, as well as on LTV and Latvian Radio Pētera Vaska. 75th anniversary concert with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra and the State Academic Choir “Latvia”. Two – Margarita’s original programs were performed at the International Festival “Cello Cesis”.
Another successful year of musicians’ residency has passed and it will even end with the “Three Balanas” Christmas concert. The aim of the residency was to provide a concert stage for these talented and versatile musicians of the Balana family, to realize their creative ideas together. Several unique concert programs have been performed – examined and created by the musicians themselves. While planning the concert programs of the residency, Kristīne, Margarita and Roberta had several new and successful collaborations with both Latvian and European musicians. The year of residence of “Trīs Balana” in Cēsis Concert Hall vividly demonstrated the future, succession, perspective of our Latvian performing arts, and the ability of our new generation of musicians to accumulate world experience, creating new and ambitious musical ideas. It is gratifying that we have contributed to supporting and promoting the growth opportunities and initiatives of young Latvian musicians, ”said Inese Zagorska, the artistic director of the concert hall.
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