On June 14, as we commemorate throughout Latvia those deported by the Soviet Union and the families they left behind, the legendary and moving cantata by Lūcija Garūta, God, Your Land Is Burning!, will be performed by three choirs.
Lucija Garūta’s ethereally beautiful music will be performed by the Riga Lutheran Church Choir, the Riga School of Practical Aesthetics mixed choir Anima Mea, and the Talsi Secondary School No. 2 mixed choir Talsis, with the combined choirs conducted by Matīss Tučs, Ivars Krauze, and Jēkabs Krists Kalniņš. We will also hear soloists—tenor Mārtiņš Zvīgulis and bass Ivars Krauze. Ruta Kaprāne will be at the organ. The choir will also perform several beautiful compositions by Pēteris Vask and Uģis Prauliņš.
It is symbolic that it was precisely from Torņakalns Station on this day 85 years ago that cattle cars departed for Siberia and other remote regions of Russia, carrying Latvian people who had been unjustly punished without trial and forcibly torn from their homes, including very young children and the elderly, and many of them never returned. "Much time has passed, but as a nation we do not forget these events, and almost every family has its own story about them. As we prepared for these concerts, many members of our choir wrote down their family’s memories of the deportations in a few sentences. We will also perform those at the concert," says Matīss Tučs, conductor of the Riga Luther Church Choir and one of the concert’s creators.
Admission by donation