The World inside Great Amber / Sweden and North America
At the peak of spring, the educational series The World inside Great Amber will invite the world-renowned opera singer Anna Sofie von Otter, joined by virtuoso string quartet Brooklyn Rider, to present the audience with their exquisite program of vocal chamber music, Songs of Love and Death. After their concerts in Western Europe, this will be the only appearance by the artists in Latvia.
The vast vocal repertoire of Anne Sofie reaches from refined and grandiose operas to lyrical songs, and NY-based string quartet Brooklyn Rider are called the future of chamber music ‘recreating the 300-year-old form of string quartet as a vital and creative 21st-century ensemble.’
The creative union of these artists will reveal the many facets of love over two hundred years by merging 19th-century composer Franz Schubert’s classic pieces of vocal chamber music and the romantic ballads of Rufus Wainwright in this concert.
The program will include Wainwright’s special dedication to von Otter, a song titled Trois Valses Anglaises, followed by Schubert’s acclaimed quartet Death and the Maiden as well as the composer’s poetic cycle Winterreise. The dream between the search for love and the presence of imminent death will be concluded by Wainwright’s romantic Three Songs for Lulu.
Swedish singer Anne Sofie von Otter is one of the most acclaimed and recorded opera singers in the world, and she has brought delight to audiences and music critics for over forty years. The singer often performs on the greatest stages of the world, offering a diverse repertoire including legendary works by Mozart, Strauss, Berlioz, Bach, and Weill, as well as her vast range of Lieder recordings featuring classics such as Schubert, Schumann, Wolf, and Mahler, along with lesser-known pieces by Chaminade, Korngold, Peterson-Berger, and Stenhammar. Her long and exclusive collaboration with the label Deutsche Grammophon has produced several Grammy-awarded records, such as Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn with Claudio Abbado, Hendel’s Ariodante, Giulio Cesare and Hercules together with Marc Minkowski, and the program For the Stars with pop legend Elvis Costello. In 2015, the artist’s double album Mélodies and Chansons and Douce France, released under Naïve Classique, received a Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album.
Brooklyn Rider are four critically-acclaimed soloists – Grammy award-winning violinist Johnny Gandelsman, violinist Colin Jacobsen, violist Nicholas Cords, and cellist Michael Nicolas. With their exhilarant style of performance and an unquenchable thirst for adventures in music, the ensemble have earned a special place in the world of string quartets during their fifteen years of collaboration. While defining the string quartet as a medium with deep historic roots and infinite possibilities of sound, the musicians draw equal inspiration from various languages of music, from the late works of Beethoven and Persian classical music to early American music. In 2021, Brooklyn Rider’s album Healing Modes was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance.
Participants:
Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo-soprano
“Brooklyn Rider”:
Johnny Gandelsman, violin
Colin Jacobsen, violin
Nicholas Cords, viola
Michael Nicolas, cello
Video:
Organized by: Great Amber
Supported by: Liepāja City Council
Tickets: from 15.00 euros. Ticket prices may change approaching the event.
Place: Great Hall
Duration: 1 hour and 20 minutes
INFORMATION FOR ATTENDEES:
Visitors are encouraged to be responsible and stay at home if you experience signs of a respiratory infection. We also recommend wearing face masks outside of your seating.
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