Media information, 6 January 2026

The Latvian National Symphony Orchestra (LNSO) invites listeners to a meeting on 15 January at the Daile Music House, where the chamber music concert “Soundscapes” will take place. There, LNSO musicians – oboist Egils Upatnieks, clarinettist Martins Circenis, violinist Andrejs Jegorovs, violist Peteris Trasuns, double bassist Viktors Stankevics, and their musical companion, pianist Elina Bertina – can be experienced beyond the symphonic scale, in the refined guise of chamber music. Alongside undeservedly rarely performed works, the programme will also feature soundscapes created by Peteris Vasks and other composers.

The programme weaves together the colours of 20th- and 21st-century chamber music, individual instrumental timbres and musical thinking that evokes associations with scenes of nature, space and emotion.

This concert will be exciting mainly for two reasons. The first is that an unconventional instrumental line-up will take part in the concert in several combinations. If we usually think of chamber music in more familiar combinations – piano and a solo instrument, piano trio, piano quartet, string quartet, wind quintet and so on – this time our circle of like-minded musicians has chosen a more unusual path. At the start of the concert we will offer listeners Sergei Prokofiev’s Quintet, Op. 39. This opus will form a logical arch with the sextet by contemporary French composer Guillaume Connesson at the close of the concert.

The second reason was to show the geography of chamber music in every sense – while both of the above-mentioned works have been heard in Latvia, if not often, two Latvian premieres in this concert can happen only once. We believe listeners will not be disappointed by either the timbral and microtonal explorations of the Frenchman with the Italian surname, Gilles Silvestrini, in the solo oboe etude “Autres Mondes” from the cycle “Six Pictorial Etudes,” nor by Uruguayan composer Efrain Oscher’s “Southern Landscapes,” where one should not be misled by the title – the piece is far more solid and personal than a sunny depiction of nature, says concert participant and LNSO oboe section principal Egils Upatnieks about the programme.

Since none of us plays the piano well enough for others to bear listening to it, we have invited a trusted partner in chamber music to join us – pianist Elina Bertina – in whose performance, even before Connesson’s virtuosic and, in the best sense of the word, kitschy work, we will hear this season’s LNSO composer-in-residence Peteris Vasks’ White Landscape, so fitting for the view outside the window right now, says Egils Upatnieks about the programme.

Egils Upatnieks has been principal oboe of the LNSO since 2009, having previously been principal oboe of the chamber orchestra Sinfonietta Riga. He regularly performs as a soloist and chamber musician in various LNSO programmes. Since 2009 he has been a member of the Denmark-based wind quintet Carion, performing across Europe and the United States.

One of Latvia’s finest clarinettists, Martins Circenis, is principal clarinet in three leading Latvian orchestras – the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, the State Chamber Orchestra Sinfonietta Riga, and the orchestra of the Latvian National Opera and Ballet. He regularly performs as a soloist and takes part in chamber music projects. In 2024 he became a laureate of the LNSO Foundation’s Excellence Award.

Violinist Andrejs Jegorovs, together with his colleagues, will also lead listeners into the world of music – he is concertmaster of the chamber orchestra Davinspiro Camerata and principal of the LNSO’s second violin section. He is a laureate of several international competitions, both as a violinist and as a pianist.

Violist Peteris Trasuns will also take part in the concert – assistant principal viola of the LNSO and a member of the piano quartet Quadra. A brilliant chamber musician and participant in many premieres.

LNSO and Latvian National Opera double bass musician Viktors Stankevics is a versatile artist across the repertoire, who also enjoys performing in various chamber ensembles.

The piano parts in the concert will be in the hands of pianist Elina Bertina, who engages audiences both as a soloist and in creative collaboration with other outstanding artists. She has performed with the orchestras Sinfonietta Riga, Sinfonia Concertante, LNSO, the Liepaja Symphony Orchestra, the Olsztyn Philharmonic Orchestra and the German String Philharmonic, with whom she went on a summer tour in 2018.

Tickets for the concerts are available at Bilesu Paradize outlets and at www.bilesuparadize.lv. This concert is also included in the LNSO’s 2026 chamber music concert subscription series at the Daile Music House.