This Friday, 19 July, marks the opening of the new symphonic music festival RIGA JURMALA with five outstanding concerts happening at the Latvian National Opera and the Great Guild. A specially assembled youth orchestra, led by burgeoning conductor Arturs Oskars Mitrevics, recorded a welcome video for festival guests called “Music is in Our Nature”.
“The names of Latvia’s brightest musicians can be found on the play bills of the most important concert halls and opera houses in the world. We are truly proud of them and know that beginnings lie in the Latvian cultural education system. The basis are the 120 music schools and institutions where 1 in 8 Latvian students study. This is a fantastic statistic for a country of just under 2 million! We recorded our welcome video with great enthusiasm and delight that in Latvia – a country with strong musical traditions – a new and robust festival has been created during which such outstanding musicians will visit us, and our young artists will have the opportunity to hear them live and gain new impressions and experience!” says conductor Arturs Oskars Mitevics. The welcome video was filmed at different locations throughout Riga – the Kalnciema Quarter, the AB Dambis, the Riga Latvian Society House, the Tallinn Quarter, Kipsala, and elsewhere.
The following students from the Jazeps Vitols Latvian Academy of Music, Emils Darzins Music School, Pavuls Jurjans Music School, Jazeps Medins 1st Music School of Riga, and other institutions participated in the video greeting – Andrejs Jegorovs, Gunārs Mūrnieks, Arta Lipora, Marta Madara Papāne, Marta Jurjāne, Dita Immermane, Sabīne Grase, Ilva Bāliņa, Kristīne Ungure, Agnese Eisaka, Annija Elizabete Meija, Madara Tupiņa, Klinta Kluce, Ruta Kuļikovska, Elīza Sestule, Alma Anete Miķelsone, Anna Katrīna Paukšēna, Jēkabs Bernāts, Laine Luīze Freidenberga, Elza Bleikša, Katrīna Ciniņa, Pauls Reinis, Arturs Perts, Katrīna Elīza Krastiņa, Daniels Sabanskis, Kārlis Rencis, Matīss Lektauers, Edgars Karpenskis-Allažs, Roberts Grīnbergs, Ojārs Vilerts, Rainers Vestmanis, Krišjānis Laizāns, Matīss Vikmanis, Uģis Upenieks.
The welcome video’s artistic directors were graduates of the Emils Darzins Music School and the Pavuls Jurjans Music School - Katrīna Ciniņa, Madara Tupiņa and Edgars Karpenskis-Allažs.
