International Sacred Music Festival. The closing concert "Buddha Passion"

The State Choir LATVIJA and Artistic Director Māris Sirmais invite audiences during the second half of August and the start of September to the International Sacred Music Festival, the most extensive Latvian sacred music event of the year.

The festival’s closing concert will be a unique event in Latvia’s musical life – for the first time ever, Chinese composer and conductor Tan Dun’s monumental work Buddha Passion will be performed in Latvia.

After visiting the Mogao Caves in the Dunhuang Desert – the oldest cave monastery complex in northern China – the composer was profoundly inspired by the countless murals he saw there. These "musical frescoes" depict more than 4,000 musical instruments, 3,000 musicians, and 500 orchestras. "I was so deeply moved that I could almost hear the sounds flowing out of the wall paintings," said Tan Dun.
Over the next six years, he created this powerful opus – a captivating story of miracles, truth, and a quiet yet inevitable transformation. The work blends a wide range of styles, including both Western and Chinese opera, Western classical music, and Asian folk traditions.

The Buddha Passion will be performed by the State Choir "Latvija," the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra with an extended percussion section, and a large ensemble of soloists, including Jolanta Strikaite, Viktorija Majore, Ieva Parša, and Mārtiņš Zvīgulis.