Ieva UPATNIECE – cello
Conductor Guntis KUZMA
Programme:
Jānis IVANOVS Symphony no. 21Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, II movement
Among the world’s distinguished symphonic hits and their creators, one must emphasise a genius of local origin – Jānis Ivanovs and his remarkable body of work. He was the most prolific Latvian composer of his era who wrote monumental symphonies, instrumental concertos, exquisite piano pieces, and a few harmonically splendid vocal compositions. In the genre for which he is particularly renowned – symphonies – he reflected the intricate challenges of his time, echoing Beethovenian struggles between light and darkness, good and evil, conveying them in a contemporary musical language. Above all, he embodied authenticity and the big heart of a Latgalian. “There may be many Ivanovs, but there is only one Jānis Ivanovs,” was the joke told by none other than… Jānis Ivanovs himself.