The programme will feature Wagner’s gift to his beloved wife Cosima – the symphonic poem Siegfried Idyll. This work includes an unfinished string quartet, echoes from the opera Siegfried and a stylised lullaby.
The orchestra will also perform Latvian composer Pēteris Plakidis’ masterpiece written in his early days, Music for Piano, Strings and Timpani. His music is laconic, precise, masculine and sometimes playful, teasing and ironic, inspired by composers from previous decades but interpreted in a different way. The solo will be performed by the London-based pianist Reinis Zariņš. He is an architect of sounds who has a unique mind-set and brilliant technique, with an exceptional ability to paint the picture of each opus in great detail.
The music of Pēteris Vasks will be represented by his orchestral piece Viatore (Traveller). This opus is devoted to Vasks’ colleague, the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, and depicts a person’s growth, development and fulfilment.
Conductor Ainārs Rubiķis. Photo: V.Dmitrieva
The winner of the Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition in 2010, Ainārs Rubiķis, is a new maestro who has become very popular throughout Europe. The former music director and conductor of the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre has also conducted concerts in the United Kingdom, Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Poland and Portugal, and opera performances in Japan.
A laureate of many international competitions, pianist Reinis Zariņš has been invited to work with conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Peter Eötvös and Pablo Heras-Casado, and to perform at festivals in Lucerne, Norfolk and Bath. He has given recitals in London's Wigmore Hall and Southbank Centre, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and New York's Carnegie Hall. He also regularly performs in the major concert halls in Latvia and collaborates with all of Latvia's leading orchestras.
Pianist Reinis Zariņš. Photo: Andris Sproģis
Entrance to the concert is free of charge but seat reservations must be made in advance. Invitations are available from the Permanent Representation of Latvia to the Council of Europe (rplatvia@mfa.gov.lv or +33 388247080). The concert is organised by the Secretariat of the Latvian Presidency of the EU Council in cooperation with the Permanent Representation of Latvia to the Council of Europe, the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra and the City of Strasbourg.
The concert forms part of the Latvian EU Council Presidency cultural programme which has contemporaneity, uniqueness and excellence as its core values. During the Latvian Presidency, several exceptional cultural events have taken place in France – the solo concert by Latvian pianist Vestards Šimkus, Gints Gabrāns’ art exhibition and a performance of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem in Paris, as well as the Breakfast in Europe exhibition by the Art Academy of Latvia and accordionist Ksenija Sidorova's concert in Strasbourg.
