December
Each year, during the beautiful period of Advent, Christmas and New Year’s Eve celebrations, audiences have an opportunity to experience the holiday spirit through traditional Christmas music (Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Vivaldi to name a few), pieces by contemporary composers and even through joyful jazz music. Throughout the whole December festival ‘European Christmas’ will please audiences with beautiful concerts in halls and churches of Riga and Latvia. Each year there is a special even for children, too.

Festival “EUROPEAN CHRISTMAS 2009”

Festival opening concert will feature Intars Busulis with his unique, energetic voice, and Māris Briežkalns Quartet, offering blissful moments with excellently interpreted popular jazz and chanson melodies.
Orchestra Sinfonietta Rīga will for the first time cooperate with Lithuanian pianist Daumantas Kirilauskas (1972), performing Beethoven’s magnificent 3rd Piano Concerto; music by Haydn and Ešenvalds will also be included in the programme alongside a new piece by Lithuanian composer Juste Janulīte – orchestra will take this programme on its first tour to Lithuania, performing in Klaipeda, Kaunas and Vilnius.
Programmes of marimba player Rihards Zaļupe and brothers Oskars and Raimonds Petrauskis or Mixed Trio do not require additional advertising – their outstanding ability to captivate audiences from the very first minutes of the performance is well known, hence we can again expect an unforgettable musical adventure from the trio.
Oskars Petrauskis will also play solo in an intriguingly and mysteriously titled programe ‘Masks’, prepared by Riga Saxophone Quartet and ambient-minded electronic music composer Raimonds Tiguls.
Performances of flutist Dita Krenberga and clarinetist Mārcis Kūlis are always eagerly awaited; this time we will have an opportunity to hear these two musicians in a concert titled ‘Salzburg Dream’ together with the excellent string quartet Euphonia. Programme will feature pieces by immortal Wolfgang Amadeus alongside some nice opuses by Botezzini and Quantz.
Vocal group Framest prepares for a new cooperation project – festival ‘ European Christmas’ will feature a performance of these talented singers and attractive youths with Baltic Jazz Trio, where Māris Briežkalns meets Estonian double bass player Toivo Unt and Lithuanian pianist Dainius Pulauskas. Framest will also give a charity performance in Riga St. Gertrude’s Church.
Inga Kalna is one of the brightest stars in the skies of Latvian vocal music; her international career never seizes to amaze with new engagements and victories. This time we will hear her in a sparkling programme of Mozart’s operas and concert arias with Sinfonietta Rīga and Normundu Šnē.
In mid-December vaults of St. Peter’s and St. John’s churches will echo chants by ensemble Schola Cantorum Riga, established by Guntars Pranis, and the State Academic Choir ‘Latvija’. This programme of Christmas songs and Gregorian chorals will also feature one of the most talented Latvian saxophone players Gints Pabērzs; the event will be led by Estonian conductor Risto Joost, currently embarking on a significant international career.
One cannot imagine festival ‘European Christmas’ without RIX piano quartet. This time the musicians of the quartet will perform together with Gunārs Upatnieks - his astonishing successes in international competitions prove that we are hearing one of the best young double bass players in the whole Europe. Programme will include pieces by Ingars Ģirnis, Aaron Copland and the beautiful ‘Trout quintet’ by Franz Schubert.
Two programmes of sacral music will be performed on Christmas Day and during the last days of the year. On 26th of December in Riga St. John’ s Church a programme titled Gloria in excelsis will be performed by Riga Dome Boys Choir and JVLMA baroque orchestra Collegium musicum Riga. Performance will be enriched by soloists Elīna Volkmane and Sergejs Jēgers, and conducted by Mārtiņš Klišāns. The colorful cantata Gloria by Antonio Vivaldi will be the programme special; it was premiered in Latvia this summer at the Early Music Festival in Rundāle. Gloria in excelsis Deo concert will be also performed in Daugavpils and Cēsis.
December 30th will feature performances of the most beautiful masses and motets by Haydn and Mozart in Riga Luther’s (Torņkalns) Church. Sigvards Kļava will lead the performance of Latvian Radio Choir and orchestra Sinfonietta Rīga; solo parts will be performed by Inga Šļubovska, Baiba Berķe, Viesturs Jansons and Pauls Putniņš.