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On Saturday, November 7, at the Great Amber Concert Hall, the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra, together with internationally renowned Latvian cellist Margarita Balanas and British conductor Douglas Bostock, performed a concert whose program explored three distinct worlds of British music from the early 20th century.

The concert program centered on one of the most outstanding English composers, Edward Elgar, and his Concerto for Cello and Orchestra—a central work in the composer’s late career and one of the most significant pieces in the cello repertoire. For this performance, Margarita Balanas, one of the most brilliant cellists of her generation, took the stage alongside the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra.

Under the baton of Maestro Douglas Bostock, the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra also performed Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “London Symphony,” one of the most significant British symphonic works of the early 20th century.

A special highlight of this concert was a performance by a British composer whose family roots, incidentally, are also connected to Riga—the performance of Gustav Holst’s "Phantastes Suite,” which was heard by audiences in Liepāja for the first time since its premiere way back in 1912 in London.

On November 10, at the Riga Congress Hall, the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra will join forces with other professional Latvian music ensembles to perform at the “Kultūra (iz)dzīvo” campaign, which will be broadcast live by Latvian Public Media (LTV7, Latvian Radio 3 Klasika, and LSM.lv). The cultural sector is raised the alarm: low wages threaten the future of Latvian culture. In November, the cultural sector united behind the “Kultūra (iz)dzīvo” campaign to draw the attention of the public and decision-makers to the insufficient funding of the cultural sector and the growing crisis in the pay of cultural workers. The concert is a call to begin discussions with the new Saeima regarding a long-term plan for the wages of cultural workers.

The next concert by the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra at the Great Amber Concert Hall in Liepāja is scheduled for November 17, when—in a personal and emotionally charged National Holiday program conducted by Jānis Liepiņš—the orchestra will join forces with the State Academic Choir “Latvija,” the male vocal group “Auxilium,” singers Katrīna Paula Felsberga and Ilze Grēvele-Skaraine, and organist Aigars Reinis to jointly perform Zigmars Liepiņš’s monumental “Mass 2020” and Jāzeps Mediņš’s Symphony No. 2 "Ziedonī" Thanks to the concert hall’s digital innovations, this concert will be available to watch live on the concert hall’s “Digitālais dzintars” platform.

A significant stop on the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra’s concert calendar this month will be Poland. On November 27, under the baton of Principal Conductor Guntis Kuzma, the orchestra will perform at the prestigious Warsaw Philharmonic Concert Hall alongside violinist Kristīne Balanas, taking part in one of the region’s most significant international music events—the “Eufonie” festival. The concert program will take the audience on a journey through three countries of the Baltic Sea region—Poland, Latvia, and Finland—featuring music by Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, Pēteris Vasks, and Jean Sibelius. This concert will also be broadcast live on Eiroradio and Latvijas Radio 3.

You can follow the latest news about the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra on its website at www.liepajassimfoniskais.lv.

The concerts are supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia and the City of Liepāja.