Press information, 17 March 2025. Already this Thursday, 20 March, at 19:00 at Hanzas Perons, viewers, listeners and thinkers will experience, together with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra (LNSO) and narrator Goran Gora, a unique meeting of music, art and technology at the concert “Symphonic Hit with Goran Gora. Ravel’s ‘Bolero’ and Artificial Intelligence.” The concert will raise several questions, among them: how can classical music and its diversity be reconciled with modern technology? Will artificial intelligence be able to replace composers in the future? Helping to find answers will be the concert’s special guest, music producer Kaspars Ansons, and conductor Vilhelms Vacietis.
This concert offers the chance to explore the possibilities technology brings to music creation, to find out what role a composer’s creative inspiration plays, and what role rational, mathematical structure – or musical form – plays. Is there a “recipe” that can be followed to “generate” the perfect Eurovision song, or, in the case of classical music, the perfect symphonic hit? The musical programme will be complemented by narration, delivered engagingly by the concert’s narrator, Janis Holsteins-Upmanis, known as Goran Gora, addressing both experienced listeners and those attending a symphonic music concert for the first time.
This concert will feature such significant works as the fourth movement of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s 41st Symphony, the second movement of Bela Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra, the second movement of Janis Ivanovs’ 10th Symphony, the striking work by American minimalist composer John Adams, “Short Ride in a Fast Machine,” as well as the hypnotic “Bolero” by Maurice Ravel.
On the podium will be Vilhelms Vacietis, who before his career as a symphony orchestra conductor led several choirs with great success, including the University of Latvia mixed choir Juventus, the Ozolnieki municipality mixed choir “Liga,” the RLB chamber choir “Austrums” and others. Vacietis is also an artist of the State Choir “Latvija.” As an orchestral conductor, Vilhelms Vacietis has collaborated with nearly all of Latvia’s professional orchestras – the orchestra “Riga,” the JVLMA Symphony Orchestra, the Liepaja Symphony Orchestra and the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra – rapidly gaining significant experience and audience recognition.
“Symphonic Hit with Goran Gora” is a multimedia concert series created by the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, bringing together outstanding works of symphonic music with entertaining educational value. In these concerts, Goran Gora introduces listeners to hits of academic music and their creators – famous composers. In its 11th season, the concert series has taken on new thematic directions – alongside symphonic hits, the series now also explores other themes, such as cinema, weather, and artificial intelligence. The concert programme is designed as a multimedia experience, with music and narration complemented by specially created visualisations.
The creative team behind “Symphonic Hit” includes director Roberts Rubins, dramaturge Janis Jonevs, artist Kriss Salmanis, animator Pauls Poikans, and narrator Janis Holsteins-Upmanis, known as Goran Gora. The concert is included in “Symphonic Hit with Goran Gora. Subscription 2024/2025.” Tickets for the concert are available online. More information about LNSO’s 99th season concerts is available on the orchestra’s website in the “Concerts” section, and on its Facebook profile.