The closing concert of the ‘Sinfonietta Rīga’ season will take place

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According to the orchestra’s representative Gints Ozoliņš, under the direction of conductor Normunds Šnē, the orchestra will perform Igor Stravinsky’s concert “Dambarton’s Oaks” and the Second Symphony of the great Romantist Robert Schuman. Together with percussionist Guntars Freiberga, the world premiere of Jānis Petraškevičs’ concert for percussion and 34 instruments “Echoing Distances” will take place. The concert will be hosted by Gunda Vaivode, director of Latvian Radio 3 “Klasika”.

The free live broadcast of the concert can be viewed on the chamber orchestra’s website www.sinfoniettariga.lv, On the website of VSIA “Latvijas Koncerti” www.latvijaskoncerti.lv , as well as “Sinfonietta Rīga” and “Latvijas Koncerti” on Facebook accounts.

The concert in the language of neoclassicism in Mibemol Major “Dambarton Oaks” is dedicated to the prominent American diplomat, art patron and philanthropist Robert Bliss and his wife Milbreta Blisa. The work commissioned for the couple’s thirty-year wedding anniversary, in the words of its author, Igor Stravinsky, was “Bach Brandenburg Concert Style”. The presence of the 3rd Brandenburg Concert and the features of the Baroque “Concerto Grosso” concept are especially clear here, Ozoliņš writes.

In the context of the concert, both Stravinsky’s artistic handwriting and the Dambarton Oaks property in the historic Georgetown area of ​​the US capital, Washington, and the personalities of the two American patrons, Robert and Milbrett Bliss, are special. As a representative of the US diplomatic service, Robert Bliss resided in Paris from 1912 to 1919, and it was here that a diplomat with a wide horizon became interested in collecting art. In 1920, Blisi bought property in the Federal District of Columbia and called it the “Dambarton Oaks”.

This is followed by the expansion of the property, the reconstruction of the buildings in the neo-colonial style and the transfer of the extensive art collection and library to the new Temple of Enlightenment. According to the project of architect Lourens Grant White, Dambarton owned a music room in 1928, where a Stravinsky concert premieres ten years later. The author himself does not take part in the premiere due to health problems, so the musical direction is taken over by the composer, conductor and educator of countless musical spirits Nadja Bulanžer. In 1940, Blisi bequeathed the property to Harvard University; it houses a scientific library, Byzantine art and pre-Columbian art collections and research institutes. In 1944, Dambarton’s name was also heard in the international political arena. A conference of peace and security of the “Big Four” – the United States, the United Kingdom, the USSR and the Republic of China – is organized here, where the idea and structure of the United Nations were finalized. Stravinsky also visits “Dambarton Oaks” later, including playing his Septet, dedicated to the Dambarton Scientific Library. Aaron Copland and Joan Tauver have also dedicated their works to “Damarton Oaks”.

The pianist Roberts Šūmanis (1810-1856), who dropped out of law studies, has mainly expressed his creative potential in the chamber music genre. However, in the second half of his creative life, the composer also created four symphonies, one opera, several orchestral overtures, a series of oratorios and concerts for solo instrumentalists with the orchestra.

After returning from a concert tour of the Russian Empire, during which Roberts Schuman and his wife Klara Vika also visit Riga, the composer experiences a dramatic nervous breakdown. The creative work has now completely stopped and, following the doctor’s recommendation, Schumann goes to the composer’s childhood peace port of Dresden. Manic depression, fear of death, tinnitus, fear of metallic objects, insomnia and crying attacks characterize the composer’s unenviable condition. However, during the year Roberts Šūmanis has significantly recovered and in the autumn of 1845 the sketches of the Second Symphony were made. Throughout the next year, the composer continues to work on the development and orchestration of the symphony. Schuman’s suffering and emotional drama clearly and unequivocally form the overall drama of the canvas – from a fierce battle with menacing forces (first part) to a triumphant victory (final), while the second and third parts of the symphony are characterized by hectic restlessness and deep melancholy. An analogous movement from darkness to light can also be found in Ludwig van Beethoven’s compositions, namely in the epoch-making Fifth and Ninth Symphonies.

Under the direction of Felix Mendelssohn, Schuman’s Second Symphony premiered on November 5, 1846, in the Gewdanhaus in Leipzig. Over the course of the 19th century, the symphony enjoys widespread public admiration, which in the ruling Romantic era gave it a special metaphysical halo.

Along with the classical works of “Sinfonietta Rīga”, the closing concert of the season will also feature contemporary metaphysical motifs. The world premiere of Jānis Petraškevičs Chamber Symphony for 34 instruments and solo percussion “Echoing Distances”. The author himself says about his work:

“Like in my other works, I have thought of the sonic matter of the new opus as a thinking and sentient being, in other words, as a sonic person. Although the central ones here are the musical regularities and the internal structural logic, this is the music that originated. also associated with non-musical ideas. “

The composition is a dedication of the composer to the outstanding percussionist Guntars Freibergs and was commissioned by the special chamber orchestra “Sinfonietta Rīga”.

Born and raised in a family of artists, composer Jānis Petraškevičs began his musical career at the Emīls Dārziņš Music School, where he studied violin, music theory and composition with Ģederts Ramans. At the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music, Petraškevičs studied in the composition class of Pēteris Plakids, later at the College of Music of the Royal University of Stockholm under Sven David Sandström and at the University of Gothenburg under Ule Licova-Holm. In 2014, Petraškēvičs defended his doctoral dissertation at JVLMA “Multidimensionality in avant-garde music of the second half of the 20th century” and obtained a doctoral degree in art. He has supplemented his education and experience in many internationally significant master classes.

With the recording of the composition “Bultas lidojums …”, Jānis Petraškēvičs gained attention in 1997 with the commission of the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers in Paris. In 2003, Petraškēvičs won the work “Et la nuit illumina la nuit”. place at the ABAM Composers Competition in Hamburg. In 2014, the composition “gefährlich dünn” (premiered in the Vigmore Hall in the same year) was commissioned by the Vigmore Hall in London and the Ensemble Modern (Frankfurt). Petraškēvičs received the Grand Music Prize in 2013 and the AKKA / LA Copyright Infinity Prize for the composition Darkroom. The composer’s works have been performed in Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Japan, Canada, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Poland, including the Venice Biennale (2008), ISCM World Music Days (2008, Vilnius), concert series “Musica Viva Munich (2012), Warsaw Autumn Festival (2013), Ultraschall Berlin (2015), Archipel (2015, Geneva), Donaueschinger Musiktage (2018).

He has published a number of articles on contemporary music in the magazines “Mūzikas saule” and “Rīgas Laiks”. Since 2011 he has been a lecturer at JVLMA, as a senior composition teacher since 2017. Together with JVLMA colleagues, Professor Rolandas Kronlak and Professor Guntars Prani, in 2017 he curated the exhibition “Recorded Sound” at the National Library of Latvia.

In 2020, a cooperation agreement will be signed with the music publishing house “Edition Gravis”.

Percussionist Guntars Freibergs is one of the members of the ensemble “Perpetuum ritmico” founded in 2014, as well as a teacher at Mārupe Music School and Ventspils Music High School. He has performed as a soloist with orchestras in Latvia, Russia, Germany, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic.

Guntars Freibergs has twice been nominated for the Grand Music Prize. In 2010 in the category “Young Artist of the Year”, while in Perpetuum ritmico – in 2016 in the category “Concert of the Year”. In 2012 he won second place in the prestigious Salzburg marimba competition and in 2011 – in the Grand prix percussion competition in Fermo (Italy).

Guntars Freibergs started his musical career at Valka Music School and continued at Emīls Dārziņš Music High School. He also studied at the Moscow Central School of Music in the class of Mark Pekarsky; studied at the Strasbourg Conservatory of Music from 2007 to 2011; In 2014, he obtained a master’s degree from Anton Bruckner at the University of Linz, as well as supplemented his skills at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels.

Guntars has participated in master classes with leading percussion masters Keiko Abes, Momoko Kamia, Bogdan Bacan, Peter Sadlo, as well as improved his skills at the Salzburg Mozarteum Summer Academy and the Villekrozes Academy in France.

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