6 November marked one year since the inauguration of the Great Amber Liepaja Concert Hall. In celebration of the anniversary, the Concert Hall’s one-year anniversary concert will be held at 7 pm on Saturday, 12 November. The concert will feature the Concert Hall residents: the Liepaja Symphony Orchestra and conductor Atvars Lakstīgala, as well as two guest artists – the young and talented 12-year-old violinist Daniil Bulajevs from Riga, and a special guest, London-based Latvian accordionist virtuoso, Ksenija Sidorova.

The first part of the anniversary concert will offer Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin, Prelude to Act 3, and Niccolo Paganini’s Violin Concerto No.1, Op.6, in D major, performed by the Liepaja Symphony Orchestra and soloist/violinist Daniil Bulajevs. In the second part, accordionist Ksenija Sidorova, together with the resident orchestra, will perform Astor Piazzolla’s concerto for accordion and orchestra, as well as pieces from Georges Bizet's “Carmen”.

Daniil Bulajevs was born in Riga in 2004 and started playing piano and violin when he was only three years old. Currently, he is a student at Emīls Dārziņš Music School and the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory Central Music School. Since three and a half years of age, Daniil has participated and won awards at various competitions in Paris, Moscow and Vilnius. In addition to competitions, Daniil has performed at various concerts in Latvia and abroad. As a five-year old, the child genius made his debut as a soloist with the Pardaugava Music and Art School Chamber Orchestra. At seven years of age, he performed for the first time with a symphony orchestra in Russia. At age 9 he performed as a soloist with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra.

Our leading contemporary accordionist Ksenija Sidorova has received praise from The Arts Desk and Classical Source (music and art review websites) as “a first-class virtuoso performer” and “an amazingly outstanding artist”. Encouraged by her grandmother, Ksenija Sidorova started playing accordion at the age of eight in Riga. While looking for opportunities to learn classical and contemporary accordion repertoire, Ksenija came to London and enrolled at the Royal Academy of Music, where she studied under Owen Murray, becoming an honour student. She completed her Master’s studies at the Academy with honours.

In 2009, Ksenija made her debut at the prestigious Wigmore Hall in London and was given a chance to prove herself at a concert for young artists organised by the Park Lane Group, after which The Times Magazine acknowledged her as being “one of the best discoveries of the concert”. In October last year, Ksenija performed with Sting at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

This year, Ksenija released her first album, “Carmen”, produced by the music record company “Deutsche Grammophon”. She also performed together with the best orchestras from Japan, Liverpool, Leipzig, Edmonton and Hong Kong, and took part in festivals in Cheltenham, Verbier and Bad Kissingen. In August 2017, Ksenija will perform for the first time at the Rheingau Musik Festival.

Place: Great Hall

Tickets: EUR 15-30

Organiser: Great Amber