Postponed from April to September due to the Covid-19 epidemic restrictions, the 3rd festival "April of Pēteris Vask's music" eventualy is taking place - with the shortened program, but still...

6 September 2020 at 15:00 Cinema Auditorium

PROPHECY, a documentary (United Kingdom, USA, 2019)

Introductory meeting with director Charlie Paul and Pēteris Vasks before the screening of the film

‘Creating is an incredible journey that can open the door to a new universe,’ says the great Scottish artist Peter Howson. In his works he uses the classic techniques of Goya, da Vinci, Bruegel and El Greco, drawing inspiration from unrests, religious beliefs and mythology.

The film watches the making of a nuanced large-scale painting entitled Prophecy, its first exhibition and becoming the property of a private collection through the artist’s eyes, inviting us into the apocalyptic world of Howson’s dark sense of humour and painting. The clever methods of shooting and hypnotic work of the cameraman reveal the invisible, showing the process of images born in the artist’s mind transferred to the canvas.

A crucial role in the film is played by the music the painter listens to, shutting out the street noises ‒ richly dramatically nuanced musical pieces by the Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks.

6 September 2020 at 18:00 Great Auditorium

VOX AMORIS. BAIBA SKRIDE, VESTARDS ŠIMKUS AND SINFONIETTA RĪGA

Baiba Skride, violin

Vestards Šimkus, piano

Sinfonietta Rīga Orchestra

Conductor Normunds Šnē

Programme: Pēteris Vasks, Vox Amoris; The Fruit of Silence; Arvo Pärt, These Words; Erkki-Sven Tüür,  Flamma; Vilnis Šmīdbergs, Elegy

Love existed, and it exists, and it will never end. I think solo violin and string orchestra are the best ensemble for singing a story of love. The one-movement composition opens with a soft string tremolo. Then the violin solo emerges ‒ questioning, searching until it blossoms into an expansive cantilena supported by a subdued string orchestra sound. I hope that Vox Amoris will strike a chord with the listeners and the world and inspire them to open up ‒ if only a little ‒ for love.

Pēteris Vasks

The organic musical style and passion of the Latvian violinist Baiba Skride has been appreciated by international audiences, prominent orchestras and renowned conductors alike. The style of the talented violinist is defined by her freshness of approach, the joy she finds in music and unaffected abandon. She regularly performs with orchestras in Berlin, Boston, Paris, Bavaria, London, Sweden, Sydney, the Netherlands and elsewhere. Baiba Skride has worked with some of the world’s greatest conductors, including Andris Nelsons, Christoph Eschenbach, Paavo and Neeme Järvi, Vasily Petrenko, Sakari Oramo, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, John Storgårds and other maestri.