Students from all over the Baltics / Article will study in the master classes of the festival “Riga Jurmala”

During the international classical music festival “Riga Jurmala”, music students from all over the Baltics will have the opportunity to attend master classes with performers who will perform at the festival this summer, the organizers of the festival informed. The next master classes will take place on July 17 at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music under the Hungarian pianist Sir András Šifs. Three young pianists will take part in the master classes – Kasparas Mikužis (Lithuania), Pāvels Laganovskis (Latvia) and Tāhe Lī Līva (Estonia).

András Šifs is known as a pianist who has focused on supporting young talents, mainly by offering young and promising musicians the opportunity to perform in his established concert series “Building Bridges”. András Schiff is also a lecturer at the Barenboim-Said Academy and the Kronberg Academy, giving regular lectures and conducting master classes. He will perform at the Riga Jurmala Festival on July 18 in the Dzintari Grand Concert Hall together with the Marisa Jansons Festival Orchestra, playing Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto with Orchestra in the laminator (op.54).

“With the idea to organize master classes for young musicians from the Baltics and elsewhere in the world, the festival team came up last spring. Investing in the education of young musicians is one of the goals of the festival – to leave something to remain – to allow to meet, get to know and learn from the world’s most recognized masters of classical music, ”said Zane Čulkstēna, Executive Director of the Riga Jūrmala Festival. “Seeing how successful the collaboration with the artists who performed in the first season of the festival was and how open they were to various initiatives, including teaching face-to-face master classes during the festival, announcing the second season of the festival, master classes for young musicians were an integral part.”

On August 6, the master classes will be taught by French violinist Reno Kapisons, on August 28 by pianist Jefim Bronfmans, and on September 3 – by pianist Leif Uve Annnes.

With the onset of the pandemic, it was decided to hold master classes remotely. On the Facebook platform they were also possible for other interested parties. Since May 2020, Facebook has hosted more than 90 individual masterclasses with 28 different teachers, including French violinist Reno Kapapis and baritone Benjamin Apla, cellist Miša Maiska, classical guitar virtuoso MILOŠ, Norwegian pianist Leias Ūves Annnes, soprano Olga Peretjatko and mezzo-soprano Alice Kūta, great pianist Jefima Bronfman and others. The master classes have also been led by orchestra musicians – lecturers from the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

This summer, during the festival “Riga Jurmala”, master classes will take place in person, their recordings will be available after the festival. Online masterclasses will resume in September.

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