Open festival “Saulkrasti Jazz” – an insight into the concerts of the first day / Article

On July 22, at the Saulkrasti open-air stage, jazz music lovers gathered for the twenty-third time. festival “Saulkrasti Jazz”. Since 1997, every summer in Saulkrasti, concerts of outstanding jazz professionals and master classes for young musicians have been offered. For safety reasons, there will be no master classes this year and the festival will take place for only three days. Outstanding jazz musicians from Latvia, Austria, Israel, France, Armenia and the USA will take the stage of the recently renovated Saulkrasti city. –

The director of the festival Raimonds Kalniņš is also happy about the other festivals, which are not afraid of the difficulties that need to be overcome now, and this year will take place. He is also satisfied with the high level of Latvian musicians. It was not difficult to compile the festival program, because musicians from all over the world crave to play.

Ilona Kudiņa, a Latvian jazz flute virtuoso and composer living in America, was the first to take the stage at the opening concert of the festival with the musical project “Baltic Transit”.

The musician says: “We all probably meditated and thought more than in other years, and we returned to our childhood, in our thoughts. Something forgotten – we remembered. When I put in this program, I thought of childhood. Funny, I’m thinking of Latgale in Boston. And I also think, what kind of music do I like and what did I listen to as a child? ”

A calm, almost meditative sound, sometimes complemented by more lively moods, was offered to the festival visitors by a trio of musicians from Finland, Estonia and Armenia, led by one of the most active musicians in the Baltics, Jaaks Soers.

“When we, different people, met, we always talked about how to play together. So we tried it four years ago and we are satisfied! We are from different countries, but we are united by music! ” reveals Jacob Seer.

The program of the first day of the festival was closed by the expressive French talented bass player SHOB.

Jazz rhythms will be available in Saulkrasti on July 23 and 24.

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