Cinematic concert for Zemgale "In the Tides of History" being produced
november 15, 2018
On 17 October in the Jelgava Culture house the fourth and closing stage from the most grandiose Latvian centenary musical project Latvijas gredzens (The Ring of Latvia) was performed - ZEMGALES GREDZENS (THE RING OF ZEMGALE), the artistic concept of which will be brought to life through the cinematic concert Vēstures palos (In the Tides of history).
The concert cycle Latvijas gredzens was initiated in the spring of 2017 as a gift to Latvia in its centenary and it has since seen already three “rings” dedicated to Latvian regions – for Latgale, the concert performance Rakstiem un skaņai (For Patterns and Sound), for Kurzeme the grand concert Pūt, Vējiņi (Blow ye Winds), and for Vidzeme a musical exhibition Kalns uz augšu ies(The Mountain Will Arise). The cinematic concert Vēstures palos(In the Tides of History) dedicated to Zemgale will close the two-year cycle of the musical project in October.
The artistic director and conductor of the Latvian Radio choir Sigvards Kļava expresses his satisfaction with how this idea of his has been realized artistically – in four conceptually different “rings” – showing and underlining the peculiarities, cultural treasures and energy of each Latvian region. Sigvards Kļava emphasises that ‘the cycle has managed to rise up to a great scale as its nearing the centenary through showing what is dearest to the nation – the local people’s sense of Latvianness and the world.’
THE RING OF ZEMGALE in the musical journey of the cinematic concert will bring together the Latvian Radio choir, a group of musicians of the Latvian Radio Big Band, the musical Petrovskis brothers Oskars and Raimonds, as well as contemporary dance artists Lilija Lipora and Guntis Spridzāns.
The libretto of the cinematic concert Vēstures palos was created by the poet Inese Zandere and it was directed by Roberts Rubīns. The cinematic concert will feature music by Pēteris Vasks adn Līga Celma-Kursiete.
The fourth stage of the concert production cycle THE RING OF ZEMGALE through the cinematic concert Vēstures palos (In the Tides of History) tells a story of Zemgale as the land of plough and sword where fertility is intertwined with death. It sounds military marches and mourning music, canonised legends and boastful brass-player accompanied open-air balls. The rolling grain fields turn into war fields and burial fields that turn into grain fields again, and in them grows the Latvian literary language, its first presidents and statesmen, great poets and resilient poetesses. The scale of Zemgale is the width of its horizon, and the Latvian state in it is like Lielupe, in the tides of which the soul streams spread out across the plains of history meet again.
The cinematic concert Vēstures palos (In the Tides of History) of the Ring of Zemgale will hold its next events in 19 October in the Vidzeme Concert hall Cēsis, 26 October in the Latgalian embassy GORS, 2 November in the Liepāja Concert hall The Great Amber.