Ultimate Guide to Liepāja International Star Festival – Performances, Schedule, and Highlights

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At the opening of the festival, the great Canadian pianist Louis Lortee – a wonderful interpreter of Chopin’s music – took the stage with the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra under the leadership of conductor Gunta Kuzma to play Frédéric Chopin’s First Piano Concerto together. This remarkable musician has built a career spanning more than three decades as one of the most versatile pianists in the world.

On the other hand, for the second year in a row, the winners of the Latvian Young Player Artists Competition of Valdas Vikmans played together with the Liepaja Symphony Orchestra at the opening concert of the Liepāja International Festival of Stars. This year – violinists Elza Siliņa and Lueta Žagare, cellist Reinis Rudzītis, percussionist Sonja Misiņa and trombonist Dāvis Matīss Leišavnieks.

The Star Festival with performances by local artists and international stars will take place in Liepāja until March 23.

At the same time as the Star Festival, the exhibition of costumes by costume artist Evijas Dāboliņa “Recorded in Latvia” was opened, which showcases costumes created for the General Latvian Song and Dance Festival and other cultural events. The exhibition will be open for the duration of the festival, until March 24.

On March 15 at 7 p.m., “Trio Elpo” together with saxophonist and clarinetist John Ruoko will delight the audience of the star festival with a jazz program, while on March 21 at 7 p.m., pianist Aurelia Šimkus will give a solo concert, with whom lovers of piano music will be able to experience an exquisite journey through time and get acquainted with wonderful For compositions by Philip Glass, Sergei Prokofiev and Frédéric Chopin.

On March 16, at 7 p.m., the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra will perform under the direction of Finnish conductor Juha Kangas. The program will meet the timeless elegance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the loving harmonies of Peter Vaska.

“Musica serena” by Pēteris Vaskas will be played, which he dedicated directly to his long-time friend – conductor Juh Kangas, and “Vox amoris”, a fantasy for violin and string instruments, which is a story about the most powerful force in the world – love. German violinist Katrína ten Hagen will be the soloist in this piece.

The listeners of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s unfathomably vast oeuvre will be able to enjoy Hafner’s symphony filled with emotions and the Oboe concert, where the solo will be performed by the excellent Frenchwoman Céline Moinet.

On the other hand, at the grand finale of the festival, on March 23, at 6 p.m., the great Italian opera genius Giuseppe Verdi’s “Requiem” will be played – a monumental piece of spiritual vocal-instrumental music, in which the composer has put all his talent as a genius melodist and a great master of dramaturgy of musical forms.

The Liepāja Symphony Orchestra, led by conductor Atvars Lakstīgalas, will perform in front of the audience with its long-time partner the State Academic Choir “Latvija” and soloists – Polish soprano Joanna Zavartko, Slovenian mezzo-soprano Monika Bohinec, Ukrainian tenor Oleksandr Chuvpilas and Latvian National Opera bass Rihardas Mačanovskis.