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Arena Festival

Autumn is the time of the New Music Festival "Arena"! This year, it will take place from October 24 to November 7, inviting for the 19th time those interested in contemporary sound art to listen to masterpieces of contemporary music and completely new works by contemporary authors!

Although, as usual, with the breath and scope of the world, this year the festival has focused on the concert programs of great domestic musicians and the premieres of new works by several Latvian composers, as well as keyboard instruments in their various manifestations. The brilliance of the timbre moods of the black and white keys is surprisingly colorful and nuanced - from exquisite harpsichord to a variety of pianos, and from flirty pianos to a monumental accordion and royal organ ... The repertoire of this year 's festival and stylistic.

The festival will feature a double program - on October 24, the Reformed Church will perform both an accordion trio led by Artūrs Noviks and the most recently jazz pianist Edgars Cīrulis in a duet with double bassist Jānis Rubiks, presenting his latest performance - the Time Weight program.

On October 28, a live Internet broadcast will be premiered on Facebook by the Latvian composer and audiovisual artist Ieva Klingenberg, who lives in Italy, “Hic et nunc”, whose stops are reflections on running time, different winds and camouflage, heritage of ancient cultures and timeless values ​​...

On October 30, the Anglican Church will be joined by two bright guest artists with extremely different concert programs. Mari Fukumoto, a Japanese organist living in Germany, will allow her organ to resonate with a series of speakers at different points in the explosive Sonus ex machina program. In turn, the Austrian musician Isabel Ettenauer will answer the grand organ with variations on the theme of the piano or compositions written for this relatively rarely heard instrument, supplementing the performance with vocal and theatrical elements ...

On November 1, the outstanding harpsichordist Ieva Saliete will passionately look for counterpoints in the Reformed Church, comparing the music of the baroque giant Johann Sebastian Bach to modern art - the world premiere will be Gundega Šmite's gold electronics, and the new version will also feature the legendary opus "Electric Counterpoint" by American Steve Reich, who was associated with minimalism, and was originally written for guitarist Pete Methenija ... Reinis Zariņš tells about his new concert program “Bridges”, which will be performed on November 3 in the Ziedonis Hall of the LNL: “Look at one, look at the other, and suddenly see common - that is my path with BRIDGES. The compositions of the program are well known to me per se, but the novelty and surprise are the regularities that have been seen, which pull them together in pairs. Whether it's a musical vocabulary, pianistic peculiarities, thematic ties or just an inexplicable sense of deja vu, compositions really evoke over centuries, languages ​​and cultures. ” Beethoven, Schubert, Couperen, Ligeti, Glas, Messian and other composers in piano music will shed new light on the reading of the grand master of Latvian pianism ...

Bernard Benoliel, whose music is permeated with respectful and creative references to the opuses of German and French Romanticism, has sought similar bridges in his work. On November 5, his lifelong work - “Infinity - Edge. Transcendental Requiem ”- a requiem for all artists whose lives have been ruined by the horrors of war ... The extensive opus will be performed by the LNSO and VAK“ Latvija ”under the direction of the well-known conductor Žolts Naģis

In the closing part of the new music festival “Arena”, an exhibition of paintings by composer Andris Dzenītis will be on display in the LNL Exhibition Hall. Composer Andris Dzenītis, who has repeatedly adorned the festival program with bright compositions, as well as been the director of the Concert Tour by Trolleybus, will this time present works of visual art created in various techniques for public evaluation. They will be on view from November 3 to 7. Andris Dzenitis says about his relationship with visual art: "Drawing for me is like self-therapy, which I have always done when there are very important, important moments, both good and bad… I have never studied it, nowhere, no one for me. has not said how to draw correctly, but I have always drawn and now I have the opportunity to see my works as well. ” Opening of the exhibition on November 3, at 5.30 pm.

Program of the festival 2020
THE WEIGHT OF TIME. OPENING OF THE FESTIVAL
October 24 17:00 Riga Reformed Church
Accordion trio Anta PUĶĪTE, Artūrs NOVIKS and Edgars ZVAGULIS, Ivars BEZPROZVANOVS (cello), Edgars CĪRULIS (piano) and Jānis RUBIKS (double bass)

HIC ET NUNC. HERE AND NOW
October 28 19:00 Arena Facebook channel
Ieva KLINGENBERGA (music, video), musicians from Latvia and Italy

SONUS EX MACHINA. THE JOY OF TOY
October 30 19:00 St. Saviour's Church, Riga
Mari FUKUMOTO (organ and electronics, Japan / Germany) and Isabell ETENAUER (piano, Austria)

CONTERPOINTS
November 1 17:00 Riga Reformed Church
Ieva SALIETE (harpsichord) and Linda LEIMANE (electronics)

TETĀLU. Paintings by composer Andris Dzenītis
November 3 – November 7 National Library of Latvia Exhibition Hall
Opening concert: November 3 17:30 with the participation of the author and Arvydas KAZLAUSKAS (saxophone)

BRIDGES
November 3 19:00 National Library of Latvia Ziedonis Hall
Reinis ZARIŅŠ (piano)

INFINITY - EDGE. TRANSCENDENTAL REQUIEM
November 5 19:00 PM Great Guild
The Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, The State Choir LATVIJA, conductor Zsolt NAGY (Hungary / France)

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