Margarita Balanas’ collaboration with Antoine Préat started about ten years ago. Both musicians live in London and attended the Royal Academy of Music together. Antoine has played in all the largest concert halls in France, Wigmore Hall, and in many cities around Europe and the USA.

‘We will begin with Camille Saint-Saëns’ Sonata No. 2, which is very rarely performed, but it is one of the composer’s masterpieces that cellists and pianists should play much more often,’ Margarita says about the opening of the program. With its picturesque harmonies, the Sonata brings the listeners on a journey of exciting moods, where the cello plays a delicate and lyrical melody that interlaces with a vivacious piano accompaniment.

Saint-Saëns is a composer very dear to the cellist’s heart, and her choice of instrument is proof to that. Margarita plays a 1849 cello by Charles Adolphe Gand, which once belonged to the famous French cellist Auguste Tolbecque. This was the exact cello that was played at the 1873 premiere of Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No. 1.

Margarita will also perform György Ligeti’s Sonata for Solo Cello. Her interpretation of this peace at the Adelaide International Cello Festival was described by critics as ‘powerful, delicate, intense and brilliant’. Performing the Sonata requires impressive technical agility and creative musicality, where the cello becomes the field of sonic exploration.

With a fiery passion and emotional release, the concert will be closed with the Sonata for Cello and Piano by Dmitri Shostakovich. The composition is a deeply personal reflection of the composer’s experiences, emotions, and artistic rebellion while the Soviet regime tried to force their ideology and control his creative expression.

Participants:

Margarita Balanas, cello

Antoine Préat, piano

Program:

PART I

Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 2 in F Major by Camille Saint-Saëns 

 PART II

Sonata for Solo Cello by György Ligeti 

Sonata for Cello and Piano by Dmitri Shostakovich

As with all concerts of the series Personally, the audience will be able to meet the musicians after the concert to enjoy informal conversations about their creative paths, sources of inspiration, and challenges, in the 2nd floor gallery. Post-performance conversations are supported by the retail chain “SPAR Latvija”.