Vestards Šimkus and the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra
From July 15 to 23, the ninth “Jūrmala Festival”, the grandest musical event of the summer, will take place in the Dzintari concert hall, bringing together outstanding Latvian and foreign musicians with ten magnificent concerts.
Pianist Vestards Shimkus, tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko, cellist Matthew Barley, piano virtuoso 3 Osokini, accordionist Ksenia Sidorova, Jurmala Festival Orchestra and others will perform at the concerts. The special guests of the festival will be the stars of Broadway musicals from London. The most beautiful opera arias, Zigmar Liepiņš’s opera “Paris Notre Dame”, concert “Born in Latvia” with the participation of great and rising stars will also be played.
One of the first concerts was held on July 16. Vestards Šimkus and the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra performed in the Great Hall. Diāna Jaunzeme – Portnaya played the organ, and the conductor was Jānis Liepiņš.
Vestard Šimkus, loved by the audience, has been called “phenomenal” (conductor Pāvo Jervi), “inspiring” (BBC), “pianist of the highest caliber” (American Record Guide). Vestard Šimkus has performed in the world’s most important concert halls – Vienna Concert Hall, Berlin Concert Hall, Tokyo City Opera, Radio France Concert Hall in Paris, Amsterdam “Concertgebouw”, Stockholm’s Berwald Hall and Concert Hall, Barcelona Music Palace and other places.
Jānis Liepiņš is one of the most promising and talented baton masters of his generation, a sought-after conductor of opera music who has regularly collaborated with outstanding opera singers. Since 2019, he has been the first conductor of the Mannheim National Opera.
The magnificent symphonic music program included the Third Symphony (”Organ”) by the French romanticist Camille Sensans, which is notable for its vivid imagery, grace and brilliant instrumentation. On the other hand, in the impressive “Dance of Death” by Sensans, the appearance of the image of death in the dance is contemplated by an old French superstition. Leonard Bernstein’s overture to the operetta “Candide” wittily, with a touch worthy of Rossini, opens a musical curtain for the mood that sparkles throughout the operetta. But in the virtuosic Piano Concerto of symphony jazz master George Gershwin, the youthful spirit of American life, blues nostalgia and a feast of frenetic rhythms are bubbling.
RELATED ARTICLES
Themes
2023-07-17 11:59:38
#PHOTO #beautiful #classic #opening #concert #Jūrmala #festival #held #Vestards #Šimkus #piano
