On Thursday, 19 October, at 19:00 at the Great Guild, the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra (LNSO) will open the tenth season of the concert series for young people and enthusiasts of academic music, “Symphonic Hit with Goran Gora.” This time, in a multimedia concert, audiences will be introduced to the life and work of the Austrian composer, Viennese classicist and founder of the symphonic genre, Joseph Haydn. Conductor Janis Stafeckis will take the podium with the LNSO to perform Haydn’s Symphony No. 101, while the solo part in the Trumpet Concerto in E-flat major will be performed by LNSO principal trumpet Jens Emil Holm. Janis Holstein, known as Goran Gora, will share fascinating stories about the composer and his music.
For the tenth year running, each programme of the “Symphonic Hit with Goran Gora” concert series is turned into an exciting adventure in which the works of world-famous composers come alive through storytelling and live performance. This season’s opening concert introduces Haydn’s work through his Symphony No. 101 in D major, “The Clock,” and the Trumpet Concerto in E-flat major.
Joseph Haydn was an 18th-century Austrian composer often called the “father of the symphony” – the number of symphonies he composed runs into three figures. But it is not about the numbers; rather, it is about the solid foundations from which the grandest expression of the symphony orchestra grew over several centuries, later cultivated and developed by other composers as well. His creative work also inspired younger classicist colleagues Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven, as well as a range of Romantic-era composers.
LNSO will perform Haydn’s music under the direction of conductor Janis Stafeckis. He began a close collaboration with the LNSO in the 2022/2023 season. Stafeckis has worked with Sinfonietta Riga, the Latvian Radio Choir and the Liepaja Symphony Orchestra, and in 2012 founded, and continues to lead, the Rezekne Chamber Orchestra. He has performed with such distinguished musicians as Inese Galante, organist Iveta Apkalna, maestro Raimonds Pauls and many others.
The solo part in the Trumpet Concerto in E-flat major will be performed by Danish trumpeter Jens Emil Holm, who has lived in Latvia for many years and currently serves as principal trumpet of the LNSO, as well as playing in the chamber orchestra Sinfonietta Riga. He has played with the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra and was assistant principal trumpet at the Malmo Symphony Orchestra.
The 2023/2024 concert season will bring four exciting and educational concert programmes telling of the most vivid personalities and events in music history. In addition to the 19 October programme, the season’s concert series will feature: on 9 November, “Symphonic Hit with Goran Gora. Opera Genius Richard Wagner”; on 25 January 2024, “Symphonic Hit with Goran Gora. Latvian Master Symphonist Ivanovs”; and on 14 March 2024, “Symphonic Hit with Goran Gora. Claude Debussy and French Impressionism.”
Tickets can be purchased at Bilesu Paradize box offices and online. Season subscriptions for the concerts are available for purchase until 19 October.