LNSO CELLO DREAM TEAM
For its velvety timbre the cello is called the king of musical instruments, and the players of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra’s cello section, with their full, full-blooded sound, never fail to captivate audiences and to bring out vividly the instrument’s important place in orchestral scores.
The ensemble builds its concert programmes around themes. They take in both the golden repertoire of cello music and brand-new works: “Around Europe in 60 Minutes”, in which the players showed off a professionally and technically demanding repertoire; a programme of Italian music – Antonio Vivaldi for the 18th century, Alfredo Piatti for the 19th and Carlo Menotti for the present day; popular music from Hollywood, played in concert by cello ensembles known the world over; and new works by Latvian composers written specifically for this line-up. The aim of every programme the ensemble plays is to popularise cello music and to win the interest of audiences in Latvia. ČELLU DREAM TEAM concerts have always drawn large audiences.
For five years now a cello-section ensemble called “ČELLU DREAM TEAM” has existed and made music under the wing of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra. Its members are the leader of the LNSO cello section, Grand Music Award winner Diāna Ozoliņa, together with the orchestra’s solo cellists Ieva Upatniece, Zane Guļāne, Lolita Lilje, Ainārs Paukšēns, Mareta Prikule, Jānis Rinkulis and Dace Zālīte.
The sound of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra’s cello section has also been singled out by music critics on the orchestra’s tours in Europe.