Press information, 14 April 2025. This month, the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra (LNSO) will offer listeners two striking symphonic concerts at Hanzas Perons. Already this week – on Maundy Thursday, 17 April, at 19:00 – the orchestra, together with pianist Georgijs Osokins and conducted by Kristiina Poska, will invite audiences to celebrate the 90th birthday of Estonian composer Arvo Part, while on Friday, 25 April, at 19:00, some of the golden pages of symphonic music will be performed under French maestro Jean-Claude Casadesus.

In 2025, the world is celebrating the milestone birthday of the outstanding Estonian composer Arvo Part, and the LNSO, together with principal guest conductor Kristiina Poska and pianist Georgijs Osokins, joins in the celebrations with the concert “LNSO, Kristiina Poska and Georgijs Osokins. Happy 90th, Arvo Part!”, performing Arvo Part’s most extensive instrumental work, Lamentate for piano and symphony orchestra, created for the exhibition of Anish Kapoor’s giant sculpture “Marsyas” at the Turbine Hall of London’s Tate Modern Museum. In it, Part reflects on the fleeting nature of life, dedicating his lament “not to the dead, but to the living.” The second half of the concert features Ludwig van Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony (“Pastoral”), in which the composer drew inspiration from nature.

The following week, at the concert “LNSO, maestro Casadesus and Saint-Saens’ Cello Concerto,” the beloved French maestro Jean-Claude Casadesus returns to Latvia, offering listeners, together with the virtuosic and musically intuitive cellist Aurelien Pascal, the golden repertoire for cello – a performance of French Romantic composer Camille Saint-Saens’ First Cello Concerto, Giuseppe Verdi’s overture to the opera “La forza del destino,” and Hector Berlioz’s celebrated and magnificent “Symphonie fantastique.”

“During Holy Week before Easter, we wanted to offer our listeners fitting music – Arvo Part’s meditative work for piano and orchestra, Lamentate, and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Sixth, ‘Pastoral,’ Symphony. Conductor Kristiina Poska has collaborated with pianist Georgijs Osokins before, and this partnership has been inspiring for musicians and audiences alike. And after Easter we look forward to the incomparable French maestro Casadesus, whose presence on stage guarantees joie de vivre and musical ecstasy,” says LNSO director Indra Lukina of the upcoming symphonic programmes.

Conducting the 17 April concert will be Arvo Part’s compatriot, Estonian conductor Kristiina Poska, LNSO’s principal guest conductor since the 2022 season. She is an actively performing conductor in demand across Europe, whose artistic performances are described as charismatic, unconventional and musically rich. Since the 2019/2020 season, Poska has been chief conductor of the Flanders Symphony Orchestra.

The soloist in the performance of Arvo Part’s work will be pianist Georgijs Osokins, who gained wide international attention in 2015 at just 19 years old, taking part in the prestigious International Chopin Competition. He has given concerts in major concert halls across America, Europe and Asia, is a two-time recipient of the Great Music Award, permanent artist-in-residence of the orchestra Kremerata Baltica, and stage partner of violinist Gidon Kremer in numerous chamber music projects. In November 2018, the President of the Republic of Poland awarded Georgijs the Silver Cross of the Order of Merit.

At the 25 April concert, audiences will have a wonderful opportunity to watch two outstanding French musicians of different generations perform together on stage – the 28-year-old cellist Aurelien Pascal, laureate of various international competitions, and conductor Jean-Claude Casadesus, already well known and loved by Latvian audiences, who has had a significant influence on the development of classical music in France. Early in his career he led the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris and served as a conductor at the Paris Opera. He is the founder of the Orchestre National de Lille, which the maestro led for more than 40 years.

* This concert is included in the LNSO Chamber Music Subscription 2024/2025. Tickets for the concerts are available at “Bilesu Paradize” sales points and online.