"Blow ye winds and drive my boat, send me on to Courland", to the place where the Livonian traditions are honoured, to the unique, deep-rooted Suiti cultural space and the power emanating from the sea and sand into the daily life. At the shores of Kurzeme the last rays of the Latvian sun flash and the wave brings a piece of amber to the feet of the beach wanderer. And we have been lucky to see a universe in this piece of amber, and put it into our pocket.

Poet and writer Imants Ziedonis: "(..) I imagine a road. I walk through Kurzeme, through fields witnessed and experienced until I encounter landscapes unseen, and I sense that I am stepping out of the awareness and the mundane. The real Kurzeme. The Kurzeme of my dreams. Kurzeme, the promised land."

Reinis Suhanovs, director

PARTICIPANTS:

Latvian Radio Choir, State Academic Choir "Latvija", Liepāja Symphony Orchestra, ethnomusicians, folk ensembles, soloists

Conductor: Māris Sirmais

Lightning designer: Mārtiņš Feldmanis

Director: Reinis Suhanovs

Among the most ambitious of Latvia's Centenary projects, “Latvian Crown” was dreamed up by the artistic director of Latvian Radio Choir, conductor Sigvards Kļava. Four conceptually distinct anthologies – musical crowns – will showcase the particularities, the heritage and the aura of each historic region of Latvia through the lens of the local residents.

The unique cultural heritage of Latgale with its idiosyncratic mix of folk music and Catholic traditions, the power of the sea weaved in the everyday life of Kurzeme, the national strand and symbolic patriotic space of Vidzeme and the open horizon of Zemgale, bringing to confluence the rivulets of souls.

This idea has come to reality in 16 concert shows that will take place in four Latvian concert halls as a cycle. The crown of each region will be created by a different artistic and creative team, including Inese Mičule, Reinis Suhanovs, Roberts Rubīns, Māris Sirmais, Inese Zandere, Katrīna Neiburga, Guna Kalnača, Jānis Mitrēvics and “Dd studio”, the State Academic Choir "Latvija", Latvian Radio Big Band, Liepāja Symphony Orchestra and others. The initiator of the project Sigvards Kļava and Latvian Radio Choir will be participating throughout the whole project.