This year’s festival opens with one of the most frequently performed masterpieces of the Romantic era — Jean Sibelius’ Violin Concerto. In the soundscape painted by the Finnish composer, a cold northern wind glides over frozen lakes; restless dreams are born in the embrace of silence. In Sibelius’ hands, the violin becomes a solitary storyteller, and the concerto — a soul’s dialogue with the universe.

Taking us on this journey through the northern sonic world is the young Japanese violinist Yuki Hirano. Born in 2004, Yuki took up the violin at the age of five, and by thirteen had already won the Japan Student Music Competition, also receiving the prestigious Suntory Foundation for the Arts Award, offering her the rare chance to perform on the historic 1740 Angelo Toppani violin.

Her career highlights to date include a triumphant performance at the Vienna Classical Violin Competition and victory at the 7th International Jascha Heifetz Competition in 2025, where she also received a special prize for the best interpretation of a Heifetz arrangement. Since the autumn of 2023, she has been honing her artistry at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.

In the second half of the evening, we will hear Carl Maria von Weber’s Clarinet Concerto No. 1 — an opus in which Romanticism pulses with theatrical intensity. The concerto unfolds like a dialogue between two worlds — poetic dreaminess and nervous urban energy.

This emotional spectrum will be brought to life by Belgian clarinetist Annelien van Wauwe, whose artistry bridges lyrical sensitivity and dramatic boldness with rare authenticity. Since her victory at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich (2012), she has performed with such orchestras as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestras, the Brussels Philharmonic, and many others. Her clarinet has sung through the acoustics of Europe’s most celebrated halls — from Tonhalle Zurich to Wigmore Hall and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

Her album “Belle Époque”, recorded with the Orchestre National de Lille under Alexandre Bloch, received the prestigious Opus Klassik Award in 2020 — a testament to her deep affinity with fin-de-siècle elegance.

Featuring:
Yuki Hirano (violin)
Annelien van Wauwe (clarinet)
Liepāja Symphony Orchestra

Conductor: Guntis Kuzma

Programme:
Jean Sibelius (1865–1957) Violin Concerto
Carl Maria von Weber (1786–1826) Clarinet Concerto No. 1