Concert programme “LNSO, Mahler’s Fifth and Paganini” to be performed at Latgale Embassy GORS and the Great Guild

Media information, 14.02.2024.

On 23 February, the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra (LNSO) and its artistic director and chief conductor Tarmo Peltokoski, together with pianist Hyung-ki Joo, known as the world’s most fun pianist, will perform at Latgale Embassy GORS with the concert programme “LNSO, Mahler’s Fifth and Paganini.” The concert will feature Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini for piano and orchestra, and Witold Lutoslawski’s Variations on a Theme of Paganini for two pianos, while the concert’s second half will feature Gustav Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. The following day, 24 February, the concert will also be performed at the Great Guild in Riga; tickets for the Riga concert are already sold out.

In two magnificent concerts – one at the Great Guild and one at Latgale Embassy GORS – the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra and its artistic director will perform Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini for piano and orchestra, a work created with a rich harmonic language and masterful pianism taken to the point of excellence, in variation form. Just as boldly, not quite ten years later, Witold Lutoslawski worked on his own Variations on a Theme of Paganini for two pianos. How exciting to compare, side by side, two different yet equally valuable interpretations of a single musical seed! In the piano duet, Hyung-ki Joo will here be joined by Tarmo Peltokoski himself.

No less magnificent is the concert’s second half, which will feature Gustav Mahler’s expansive Fifth Symphony, composed while the composer was at the peak of his fame. Instead of the usual four symphonic movements, Mahler wrote five, the fourth of which – the Adagietto – is considered a love letter to Alma Schindler (later Mahler). Indeed, it is hard to imagine music more full of love.

Tickets for the 24 February concert at the Great Guild are sold out, so we warmly invite you to attend the concert on 23 February at Latgale Embassy GORS. Tickets can be purchased through the Latgale Embassy GORS and Bilesu Paradize ticketing systems online and at the box office at Pils iela 4, Rezekne.