At the opening of the 146th season on September 19, the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra and its audience will enjoy a delightful reunion with German cellist Daniel Müller-Schott, who first visited Liepāja for the city’s 400th-anniversary international star festival and performed Camille Saint-Saëns’s virtuosic First Cello Concerto at its opening concert. This time, the concert program includes one of the cornerstones of the cello repertoire—Antonín Dvořák’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra.
"When Daniel Müller-Schott first performed with the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra, playing Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto, we were immediately captivated by his soulful, emotionally direct, and tonally rich playing", says Guntis Kuzma, artistic director of the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra. "He breathed and phrased so organically with the orchestra; it seemed as though the entire orchestra held its breath, following the finest details of the soloist’s playing. In my opinion, the Liepāja audience fell in love with both his playing and his magnetic stage presence even back then. Now, it is with great pleasure that we invite Daniel to return to Liepāja to perform Dvořák’s Cello Concerto together. I am convinced that, together with him, we will be able to reveal both the emotional depth and the symphonic grandeur of this work."
Daniel Miller-Schott is a world-renowned German cellist who regularly performs with the world’s leading orchestras and is known for his brilliant technique and expressive interpretations. The New York Times has highlighted his "intense expressiveness" and called him "a fearless cellist whose technique is electrifying".
The season-opening concert, conducted by Guntis Kuzma, will also feature Arthur Honegger’s dramatic and existentially charged "Liturgical Symphony", while Juris Karlsons’ new work, "Saules lēktā", will receive its world premiere.
The concert on November 7 will center on Edward Elgar’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra — a central work of the composer’s late period and one of the most significant pieces in the cello repertoire. Internationally acclaimed Latvian cellist Margarita Balanas will take the stage alongside the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra to perform this work. Critics describe her as one of the most brilliant cellists of her generation.
We would like to remind you that in the fall of 2025, she and her sister—violinist Kristīne Balanas—became the first Latvian musicians to sign a recording contract with one of the world’s most prestigious record labels, Decca Classics.
"Elgar’s Cello Concerto demands deep inner concentration from the soloist, the ability to sustain dramatic tension, and a personally revealing, profound expression. In my opinion, Margarita Balanas’s playing possesses the dramatic power and intensity required for this work. Her interpretations always reveal a rich tonal imagination, poetic sensibility, and the ability to imbue every motif with meaning", comments Guntis Kuzma. "As a conductor herself, Margarita shapes the solo part as a living dialogue with the orchestra. I look forward with great interest to seeing how the grandeur, lyricism, and human warmth of this concerto will unfold in her interpretation."
This concert, in which British maestro Douglas Bostock will take the podium, will bring together the styles of three British composers from the early 20th century. In addition to the often-overlooked Edward Elgar, the program will also feature Ralph Vaughan Williams’s "London Symphony" and Gustav Holst’s "Fantastic Suite".
Tickets for the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra’s concerts are available through the "Biļešu paradīze" network: https://www.bilesuparadize.lv/lv/organizer/50.
The concerts are supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia, the State Culture Capital Foundation, and the City of Liepāja.
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