Lawrence Brownlee, tenor /USA

Levy Sekgapane, tenor / South Africa

Latvian National Symphony Orchestra

Conductor Aivis Greters

For the sixth time, Andrejs Žagars Foundation for Culture in association with Cēsis Concert Hall and Latvian National Symphony Orchestra presents another edition of the ‘To Andrejs Žagars from Friends’ concert of opera music, already a well-established tradition.

This year’s programme stars two outstanding tenors representing the Italian school of bel canto, Lawrence Brownlee and Levy Sekgapane, whose virtuoso vocals and artistry of performance have been appreciated at the world’s top opera houses and concert halls. This will be the first opportunity for the Latvian audience to hear both singers together, sharing the same stage. The programme will feature arias and duets from operas by Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini. The two singers will be joined by the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra; the place on the conductor’s podium will be taken by Maestro Aivis Greters.

Lawrence Brownlee, recognised as one of the greatest artists in the premier league of classical music and opera, has been called by The Guardian ‘one of the world’s leading bel canto stars’. The singer is a frequent guest at the world’s major opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, where he appeared in a production of Rossini’s La Cenerentola (Cinderella) with Elīna Garanča, the Milan Teatro alla Scala, the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, Bayerische Staatsoper, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Opéra national de Paris, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Teatro Real in Madrid, Opernhaus Zürich and Wiener Staatsoper.

Brownlee has given recitals on the stages of the world’s most influential concert halls, including Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, and the Kennedy Center, worked with the Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and frequently appeared at the festivals of Baden-Baden and Salzburg. May and June 2024 saw Brownlee appear at the Milan Teatro alla Scala and Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich.

The tenor worked with Andrejs Žagars in 2017, appearing in a concert he organised at Dzintari Concert Hall.

Born in the Republic of South Africa and trained at the South African College of Music at the University of Cape Town, Levy Sekgapane won prizes at the Belvedere and Montserrat Caballé singing competitions in 2015, won the 1st prize at the Operalia contest for young vocalists in 2017 and is currently a sought-after soloist appearing at the world’s leading opera houses, including Opéra national de Paris, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper, Wiener Staatsoper, the Semperoper in Dresden and Opernhaus Zürich, where he performed with Cecilia Bartoli.

The singer’s plans for the future include performing at La Monnaie opera house in Brussels, Gran Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona and Opéra national de Paris.

2019 saw Levy Sekgapane make his debut at the Salzburg Festival. The singer has also been a guest at the prestigious Glyndebourne Festival in the UK, the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro and Donizetti Opera festival in Bergamo. Sekgapane’s first appearance in Latvia was at the Gala of the 2018 Riga Opera Festival.

A young Latvian conductor with a rapidly growing international career, Aivis Greters graduated from the Orchestral Conducting Department of Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music and went on to study at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, also attending master classes, including Tonhalle Orchester Zürich Masterclass with Paavo Järvi.

Greters started his professional musical career as the conductor of the Kamēr… Choir (2018–2021). Under his leadership, Kamēr… became the first choir to win three Grand Prix awards back-to-back at three influential European festivals. Greters has worked with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonietta Rīga, the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Bamberger Symphoniker and Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. As Assistant Conductor with Orchestre de Paris, he took part at the influential Festival d'Aix-en-Provence and conducted a concert at the prestigious Berliner Philharmonie concert hall in March 2024.

Between 2024 and 2027, Aivis Greters will continue working at the Gothenburg Opera as Principal Guest Conductor.