Other events in Baltic States

The annual Music Festival “Liepaja Summer”, organized by the Liepaja Symphony Amber Sound Orchestra, will come to its conclusion on the 19th of July at 7PM at the Liepaja Latvian Society House. The closing concert will feature a special event – clarinettist Marcis Kulis will perform an exotic piece by a Turkish composer. The performance will be led by the Turkish conductor Ahmet Hakan Sensoy, informs Liepaja Symphony Amber Sound Orchestra.

The closing concert “Istanbul” of the Music Festival “Liepaja Summer” will continue the “Amber Sound Starlight” concert series with an unusual solo of the LSO principal clarinet Macis Kulis. The highly experienced, nationally and internationally recognized soloist together with the Liepaja Symphony Amber Sound Orchestra and under the baton of the Turkish conductor Ahmet Hakan Sensoy will perform the Concerto for Clarinet and Strings, created two years ago by the Turkish composer Hasan Tura.

“Turks and Europe are a huge topic, which, naturally, requires a contemporary interpretation and opinion. This concerto was composed by a representative of the new generation of Turkish artists. It combines our standards of instrumental concerto with their national music. An interesting synthesis is achieved – it could be argued that this is a classic clarinet concerto, however all melodic and rhythmic materials are inherently Turkish,” clarinettist Marcis Kulis describes the piece. He continues: “It will sound foreign to our listeners – we are not used to their tonalities. The piece will seem quite Arabic. Sun, summer, warmth, temperament, dancing Arabian princess – all that is present in this piece. The concerto demands virtuosic skills and is a challenge for me, as it requires a very uncommon technical and mental approach. It takes courage to play in a Turkish way – we have, naturally, been trained according to European classical music canons, which do not apply to the characters, sounds and timbres of this concerto.”

The Liepaja Symphony Amber Sound Orchestra under the baton of Ahmet Hakan Sensoy will perform the 14-minutes short Introduction and Allegro for Strings by the British composer Edward Elgar, composed in 1905 for the newly established London Symphony Orchestra with the aim to showcase the virtuosity of its musicians. This composition quickly gained its masterpiece status.

The final piece of the night will be the “Carmen Suite” by the Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin with motives of the famous opera by George Bizet. Shchedrin wrote this music in 1967 upon the request of his wife, the legendary ballerina Maya Plisetskaya, for the single act ballet “Carmen” of the Cuban choreographer Alberto Alonso. Shchedrin arranged Bizet’s opera music for strings and percussions, wittily adapting the famous melodies to fresh instrumental colours and new rhythms. Due to these qualities the opus was disapproved by the Soviet regime and declared insulting to Bizet’s opera. Needless to say, the piece gained great popularity in the West.