LATVIAN RADIO
CHOIR OPENS THE NEW SEASON
During the
first half of the 2009 – 2010 concert season, the Latvian Radio Choir
will make appointments with the audience under the framework of well-known
festivals and tradition-rich concert cycles, offering classical values,
several first performances of pieces of Latvian music, as well as a
number of experiments in the field of sonic art. The Latvian Radio Choir
will be heard via radio programmes from Latvia and other countries,
and seen on Mezzo, the French TV channel.
During the
new concert season, the Latvian Radio Choir will continue the concert
cycle „Evening Conversations at St. John’s”. It will join the
„Cosmos” vocal group at the December concert “The Nocturnal Prayer”,
already a tradition, and participate in the “Arena” festival of
new music. The season’s first concert, including a first performance
of a new piece of Latvian music, will be held under the auspices of
the Autumn Chamber Music Festival.
„The Autumn
Chamber Music Days”
At 7:30 PM
on September 24, the Small Guildhall will see the first encounter of
the Latvian Radio Choir’s Group and its conductor with the London-
based Latvian pianist Diana Ketler, the winner of Great Latvian Music
Award of 2008. In her capacity of Professor of the Royal Music Academy’s
piano class, Diana Ketler appears at the world’s best concert halls
as a soloist and ensemble player, and her performance stands out with
an exquisite skill of ensemble playing and a subtle feeling of diverse
styles of music. The concert programme incorporates romantic quartets
for voice and piano by Johannes Brahms, the music by Gabriel Fauré,
as well as works by Latvian composers Pēteris Vasks and Arturs Maskats.
The concert will see the first performance of Kristaps Pētersons’
“Ligeia”, a new piece inspired by a story of the same name by Edgar
Allan Poe.
The
„Musica” Festival in Strasbourg
The Latvian
Radio Choir will perform on September 30 under the „Musica” festival
in Strasbourg, one of the most important forums of new music on global
scale. Along side the Western-European works, the concert programme
will feature two first performances by Baltic composers, Mārtiņš
Viļums of Latvia and Ramunas Motiekaitis of Lithuania. Among the participants,
outstanding musicians will appear, such as Steve Reich, Wolfgang Rihm,
and Mauro Lanza. The Pierre Boulez world-famous group „Ensemble Intercontemporain”
will perform under conductor Susanna Mälkki, „SWR Baden-Baden und
Freiburg” orchestra will be conducted by Sylvain Cambreling, saxophonist
Steve Coleman and other world-class musicians will appear among the
performers.
The
“Evening Conversations at St. John’s”
The first two
concerts of the cycle „Evening Conversations at St. John’s” initiated
by the Latvian Radio Choir, the St. John’s Church of Riga and the
„Mūzikas Saule” magazine, experienced an enormous approval from
the audience. During the present season the Latvian Radio Choir, in
collaboration with the programme “Latvijas Radio 3 – Klasika”
will invite listeners to the cycle’s two closing concerts: The Evening
Conversation on October 7 will be dedicated to the theme “Quietus”,
and the conversation, moderated by journalist Orests Silabriedis, will
feature Ms. Sarmīte Ēlerte and Ms. Rudīte Losāne, the Chaplain of
Iļģuciems women’s correctional center. On Advent, December 10, the
Evening Conversation will be dedicated to “Birth”. Both concerts
will be broadcast live nationwide over the airwaves of the LR3 Klasika.
The
„Arēna”, „Tenso”
and „Gaida” Festivals of New Music
Under the framework
of three international festivals of music, the Latvian Radio Choir will
offer first performances of Latvian music, permitting the audiences
to taste the composers’ fresh ideas in the course of sonic experiments
and the enormous versatility of the vocal material.
Within the
ongoing cooperation with the Tenso association of professional choirs,
the Latvian Radio Choir will deliver two concerts under the professional
association’s event “The Tenso Days in Amsterdam” on October 16
and 18. The festival will be held in the „Muziekgebouw” contemporary
music hall built in 2005, where the Latvian Radio Choir and the Conductor
Sigvards Kļava will offer their interpretation of two pieces by Latvian
young composers, the first performance of Santa Ratniece’s „Chu
Dal” (Silent Water) for chorus a cappella
set to Tibetan text, and that of Kristaps Pētersons’ new piece
„Twilight Chants” for two choirs and a double bass, with the author
among the performers. The programme incorporates also one of the last
century’s most complex works for chorus a cappella:
Alfred Schnittke’s „Psalms of Repentance”. At the second concert,
the Latvian Radio Choir will perform together with other professional
choirs of the Festival, performing Arnold Schönberg’s „Friede auf
Erden” and a number of other fundamental works. The Latvian Radio
Choir will also perform the piece „Zīles ziņa” (The Prophecy)
by Pēteris Vasks.
The Latvian
Radio Choir’s concert under the „Arēna” New Music Festival will
take place on October 22 at St. Peter’s Church in Riga. Alongside
the Latvian first performances of Santa Ratniece’s „Chu dal”
and Kristaps Pētersons’ „Twilight Chants”,
the audience will hear „Let me Bleed” by Luca Francesconi, the Italian
composer who has won the widest recognition in the course of the last
decade. Currently Director of the Music section of the Venice Biennale,
Francesconi has been educated with such masters of avant-garde as Karlheinz
Stockhausen and Luciano Berio, and, incidentally, was one of the teachers
of the Latvian composer Jānis Petraškevičs.
After performing
for the „Arēna” festival, the Latvian Radio Choir will travel
to Vilnius to take part in the „Gaida”, Lithuania’s most significant
international music festival, to appear at the venue of National Gallery
on October 26, and perform Santa Ratniece’s „Chu dal” and “The
Fate of King Lear’s Children” by Mārtiņš Viļums, the Lithuania-based
Latvian composer. Both works will be Lithuanian premieres.
Concerts
in the Netherlands
As part of
the ongoing cooperation with „Concerto Copenhagen”, the wonderful
Nordic ensemble of early music, and the conductor and harpsichord player
Lars Ulrik Mortensen, the Latvian Radio Choir will tour the Netherlands
between 22 and 27 November. In Tilburg on November 22, the Latvian
Radio Choir will give an a cappella recital where it will perform
Arvo Pärt, Pēteris Vasks, Ēriks Ešenvalds and Alfred Schnittke under
the guidance of Conductor Sigvards Kļava.
The Choir will
join the Danish musicians for a number of concerts to perform „Magnificat”
by Johan Sebastian Bach, conducted by Lars Ulrik Mortensen, and to perform
the choral solo of Arvo Pärt’s „7 Magnificat- Antiphonen”, interpreted
by Conductor Sigvards Kļava.
The international
concert activities of the Latvian Radio Choir are fully financed by
foreign partners: the host festival or host concert organization.
The Music
of Advent and Yuletide
In response
to the audience’s requests, the Latvian Radio Choir will continue
its annual concert “The Nocturnal Prayer” that will take place at
the Riga Protestant Cathedral on December 10. During the concert, the
Latvian Radio Choir and the „Cosmos” vocal group will introduce
the audience to the American music of the 20th Century, offering
the romantic works by Samuel Barber, minimalist music by John Cage and
Philip Glass, as well as the pieces of the fashionable American composer
Eric Whitacre.
The New Year’s
Eve Concerts will be held at Riga Luther Church on December 30 and at
Old St. Gertrud’s on December 31. The Latvian Radio Choir and the
Sinfonietta Rīga chamber orchestra conducted by Sigvards Kļava
will perform Christmas music by Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
All through
the season the Latvian Radio Choir will carry on with its „Concrescence”
project that is implemented jointly with the higher music schools of
Oslo and Stockholm. The project’s objectives are development of innovations
in choral music and composition, and reconciliation of the modern techniques
of writing music with the ancient manners of traditional singing and
other folk music elements. Eight Latvian and Scandinavian composers
are involved in the project for this purpose, and the new works will
see first performance in 2010 under the festivals of new music: the
„Arēna” in Riga and the „Ultima” in Oslo.
The Latvian
Radio Choir over Latvian Radio
Listen to the
concerts and studio recordings of the Latvian Radio Choir every Saturday
and Sunday, tuning in to Latvijas Radio 1: the programme is called “Latvian
Radio Choir Sings”. Follow the information, since many concerts of
the Latvian Radio Choir are available via LR3 – Klasika network as
well.
