PROGRAM

Friday, 15 September, 19:00

Cēsis Concert Hall, Great Auditorium

BACHianas

Margarita Balanas /cello/ & SIGNUM Saxophone Quartet

The SIGNUM Saxophone Quartet from Germany and the rising Latvian cello star MARGARITA BALANAS present a programme that takes the listeners on an exciting musical trip, from Bach to Piazzolla. The 2016-2017 Season saw the cellist Margarita Balanas appear at her debut recital at the Royal Festival Hall, performances at Wigmore Hall and the Piatigorsky International Cello Festival in Los Angeles. Mentored by cellist Lynn Harrell, she has been selected as one of the six cellists to take part in an edition of Gautier Capuçon’s Classe d’Excellence de Violoncelle at the Louis Vuitton Foundation. The saxophone quartet are winners of the Rising Star Award of the European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO). And so the Cēsis concert offers the listeners an opportunity to hear and see the stage shared by a group of internationally acclaimed young talents, their musical interaction characterised by energy and youthful zeal.

Friday, 15 September, 21:00

Cēsis Concert Hall, Cinema Auditorium

Documentary film CELLO TALES /Luxembourg/
Four strings, a wooden box that has been around for 300 years. The cello is the most human-like of all musical instruments in shape, size and sound. A daughter searches for her father's stolen instrument for a decade. An artisan looks for the best way to craft the perfect piece of wood. A soloist travels the world playing. A copyist recreates the sound of the great masters. The cello: more than just a musical instrument.

Saturday, 16 September, 12:00

Cēsis Concert Hall, Fazenda Restaurant

SATURDAY BRUNCH WITH A CELLO FLAVOUR

A conversation and brunch with the musicians in a relaxed and informal atmosphere, where festival-goers will be able to meet and get to know the cello players who perform in this year Cello Cēsis festival programmes. The event is organized in association with the Klasika station of the Latvian National Radio Network and moderated by musicologist Orests Silabriedis.

Saturday, 16 September, 14:00

Cēsis Concert Hall, INSIGNIA Art Gallery

Opening of the URBAN POETRY art exhibition by ANDRIS VĪTOLIŅŠ

Concert CELLO. ELECTRYFIED

A concert that will reveal the cello in a different light and sound, starring the young Lithuanian cellist JUSTAS KULIKAUSKAS. Justas is a third-generation cello player. From a young age, he has been appearing a a soloist with all the major orchestras in Lithuania: the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra and Kaunas Chamber Orchestra. Kulikauskas’ passion is contemporary music; he also takes a special interest in a completely different kind of music, aspiring to become a hip hop/RnB songwriter, producer and even performing artist. In the concert at the Insignia Art Gallery, the synergy of music and visual arts will be reflected in the Lithuanian cellist Justas Kulikauskas musical interpretation and the Latvian painter Andris Vītoliņš’ works featured in the “Urban Poetry” exhibition.

Saturday, 16 September, 19:00

Cēsis Concert Hall, Great Auditorium

MARIO BRUNELLO AND SINFONIETTA RĪGA

The SINFONIETTA RĪGA State Chamber Orchestra will share the stage with MARIO BRUNELLO, an Italian cello player with an extensive international career, and the brilliant Latvian musician, long-standing solo cellist for the Kremerata Baltica Orchestra ĒRIKS KIRŠFELDS. Brunello has worked with some of the world’s major orchestras, appearing with the likes of Gidon Kremer, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Yuri Bashmet, Maurizio Pollini and Andrea Lucchesini. At the Cello Cēsis Festival, Brunelli will perform the Schubert‒ Cassadó Arpeggione Sonata in A minor. Ēriks Kiršfelds is the concertmaster of the cello group for the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra and regularly appear as a member of the Sinfonietta Amsterdam Orchestra. An outstanding chamber musician, Kiršfelds won the 2009 Grand Music Award, the highest musical award in Latvia, for outstanding work in ensemble. This programme will see the musician perform the ‘Sun Music’ concerto for cello and orchestra by the Latvian composer Anitra Tumševica. Conductor Artūrs Gailis.

Sunday, 17 September, 12:00

Cēsis Concert Hall, Great Auditorium

Concert for children CELLO FAIRY-TALES. WATER

The festival presents a special Cello Cēsis children’s programme ‒ an original concert production featuring the MELO-M Cello Trio, one of the most popular Latvian cello bands working in the crossover genre. The production is built around a fairy-tale narrative where the mood is set with classical and contemporary pieces for the cello, generously enhanced with multimedia projections and effects.