Media information, 11 March 2024.

On Thursday, 14 March, at 19:00 at the Great Guild, musicians of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra (LNSO), together with narrator Goran Gora, will introduce audiences to the life and work of Claude Debussy in the multimedia concert “Symphonic Hit with Goran Gora. Claude Debussy and French Impressionism.” On the podium will be French conductor Julien Masmondet, with harpist Ieva Sablovska in the soloist’s role. The listening experience and narration will be complemented by specially created multimedia elements, including an introduction to the finest works of Impressionist artists.

This time, “Symphonic Hit with Goran Gora” opens the curtain on a scene set in France in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries, where Impressionism first flourished in art, and later in music and literature as well.

Audiences will hear Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, which evokes the atmosphere of a dreamy moment – an untouched, undisturbed landscape of nature, a faun merging with nature and the universe. Orchestrally, this is achieved by “scattering” the musical material across different instrument groups, the stillness of the melody, and bringing a richly nuanced accompaniment to the fore. The work’s 1894 premiere was a true triumph – it was called back for an immediate encore.

The concert programme also includes two dances – “Danse profane” and “Danse sacree” – for harp and string orchestra (1904), which bring to the fore one of the Impressionist composers’ favourite instruments: the delicate and illustrative harp. The soloist will be LNSO principal harpist Ieva Sablovska. Ieva is a co-founder and member of Trio SILK and Trio Angelicus. She has collaborated with the State Academic Choir “Latvija,” the Latvian Radio Choir, the Latvian Radio Big Band and other outstanding ensembles, and has performed as a soloist with the chamber orchestras Sinfonietta Riga and Sinfonia Concertante.

A performance of Debussy’s “La Mer” (“The Sea”) is also expected. The work consists of three symphonic sketches, inspired by depictions of the sea in visual art (a copy of the famous woodblock print “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” hung in his home) and in literature, as well as by imagined scenes drawn from his own memories. At its centre is the changeability of the sea – each symphonic sketch depicts a different aspect of the sea’s nature. Although initially received with mixed reactions, over the years “La Mer” has become one of Debussy’s most admired and frequently performed orchestral works.

On the LNSO podium will be French conductor Julien Masmondet, who performed in Riga as early as the LNSO’s 2021 New Year’s Concerts. He is a regular guest on the podiums of France’s most prestigious orchestras and actively collaborates with representatives of other creative fields on interdisciplinary projects. Julien Masmondet’s instinctive musicality, outstanding intelligence and energy have earned him special recognition. In 2018 he received the Professional Critics’ Association award for “Discovery of the Year in Music.”

For the tenth year running, LNSO continues its educational concert series “Symphonic Hit with Goran Gora.” In it, the orchestra, together with narrator Goran Gora, introduces audiences to the hits of academic music and their authors – famous composers. Each concert programme is designed as a multimedia experience, with musical works and composers’ life stories complemented by specially created visualisations that present educational content in a vivid and engaging form. This season, too, the “Symphonic Hit” creative team remains unchanged: director Roberts Rubins, playwright Janis Jonevs, artist Krisis Salmanis, and animator Pauls Poikans, among others.

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