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The overture to the Verdi opera Nabucco, Schubert’s Symphony No. 4 and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 were performed at the concert.

Apart from the virtuosity of the conductor and musical prowess of the musicians, a peculiar charm was provided by old violin instruments, specially delivered to Latvia for this concert from Switzerland. Prior to the start of the concert, a small official reception was arranged in the historical part of the concert hall where guests could view these instruments, including a cello made by Antonio Stradivari, as well as to find out about the history of these instruments and listen to their wonderful sounding in the chamber atmosphere. 

“The tradition of holding concerts of the best orchestras and vocalists in Jurmala roots back to the 1920s-1930s. Representatives of senior generations must remember also wonderful concerts that were held in Jurmala in the 1960s-1970s. In recent times, the “concert profile” of Jurmala has somewhat changed towards pop music, but the idea of coming back to classics and serious modern music has been in the air since long,” said Member of the Council of Rietumu Bank and Member of the Guardian Council of the Baltic Musical Seasons Alexander Gafin. “However, the implementation of this idea required considerable funds and management of the international level. Fortunately, we have managed to solve both of these tasks. The first concert of the festival took place on the very high level and the responses we receive confirm that it is not only my opinion.” 

Alexander Gafin noted that the conduction of the Baltic Musical Seasons has been possible due to the support of Latvian and Russian entrepreneurs, who became founders of the specially established Fund of the festival, “I would like to thank personally shareholders of Rietumu Bank Leonid Esterkin and Arkady Suharenko, as well as Peter Aven, Mikhail Friedman and all founding members of the Fund for their trust and personal assistance. Owing to their support, we have succeeded in collecting the funds required for holding concerts of such a high level in Jurmala.

We were lucky in attracting the outstanding director and the long-term head of the National Opera of Latvia Andrejs Zagars as the Artistic Director of the project. Due to him, the National Opera has become one of the best musical theatres of Europe, and I hope that our Seasons, under his guidance, will become the event that spectators will look forward to from year to year.” 

The next concert of the festival will be held in Dzintari already on 1 July. This will be a performance of Denis Matsuev, accompanied by a symphony orchestra. Then a series of concerts will follow, with participation of such masters as Hibla Gerzmava, Elina Garanca, Lawrence Brownlee, Sarah Coburn, Kristine Opolais, Pavel Chernokh, Joshua Bell, Chris Botti.