On Christmas Eve, the Riga Congress Hall will be transformed into a sparkling and lively musical celebration venue. The stage will be filled with jazz and bolero rhythms, combining two different yet stylistically similar musical worlds - from the sophisticated chords of Ravel to Christmas melodies with a jazz feel. The orchestra "Rīga" will be accompanied by the outstanding pianist Rihards Plešanovs and the singing duo Aija Vītoliņa and Normunds Rutulis.
In the first part of the concert, we invite listeners to enjoy the masterpieces of French composer Maurice Ravel. The composer's Piano Concerto in G major, influenced by George Gershwin and jazz music, which he discovered during his trip to America, will be performed by virtuoso pianist Rihards Plešanovs together with the Riga Orchestra. The concert's title refers to the iconic 20th-century example of instrumentation – the piece Bolero, which was first performed at the Paris Opera in 1928. Originally written for ballet choreography at the suggestion of ballerina Iva Rubinšteina, Bolero will be performed at the Riga Orchestra's Christmas concert in an arrangement for wind orchestra by Latvian master Mendels Baš.
In the second part of the concert, the charming vocal duo Aija Vītoliņa and Normunds Rutulis will join the Riga Orchestra on stage with traditional foreign and local compositions in the spirit of jazz and Christmas, including music by George Gershwin, songs from the musical "The Sound of Music", as well as compositions by Madara Kalniņa and Māris Ozols.
PROGRAM
Part I
Maurice Ravel's "Piano Concerto in G Major" and "Bolero".
Part II
Christmas songs by foreign and local composers in a jazz mood.