From September 14 to September 20, in Rezekne and Riga a place will take the XI Baroque Music Days. This year, the festival is dedicated to Czech Republic. Festival program will represent Czech music in the performances of the ancient music masters – Czech and Swiss singers and instrumentalists.
In three-concert program will be performed a 200 years old English original music instrument – fortepiano, that has been specially transported from Prague for this unique event. In the concerts of the festival will perform the pianist Alena Henigova, string quartet Eisenberg Quartett (musicians of which are playing the instruments of the Classicism period). At the closure of the festival, will be performed a comical opera “Murder for Revenge”. Concerts will take a place at the Embassy of Latgale GORS in Rezekne, Rezekne district Luznava Manor and Music Hall “Daile” in Riga. Masterclasses will be held in Janis Ivanovs Rezekne Music Secondary School.
This year’s three-concert program of the Baroque Music Days (BMD) is somehow connected to the castle of Jezezhi, located in a three hour driving distance from Prague. This castle has had a very important role in the music history of Europe. In the castle orchestra the music patron, count Joseph Franz von Lobkovic (1772–1816) was gathering the most outstanding musicians of that time from Bohemia and Vienna. Haydn, Beethoven, Resler, Goethe, and Gluck were frequent guests in the house of the prince. The descendants of the count assert that exactly the Theater Hall of the Jezezhi castle, and not the Lobkovic’s castle in Vienna, was a place where in a close circle of selected guests, a place took the premiere of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3. It happened a half of a year before the concert in Vienna. Since the year 2012, in this castle, Alena Henigova organizes the festival “Jezezhi Musical Summer”, during which, is repeatedly performed the music that has been played there during the last 300 years.
During the opening concert of the BMD on September 15, in the Small Hall of the Embassy of Latgale GORS, Czech pianist Alena Henigova will perform compositions of the Pre-Romanticism composer and an outstanding piano player of that time – Jan Ladislav Dussek, playing the fortepiano of the 19th century, produced by John Broadwood manufactory. The concert program includes also a sonata dedicated to the Kurzeme duchess – Dorothy.
String quartet Eisenberg Quartett, playing on the historical instruments, will perform the Quartet Op. 18 F Major by Ludwig van Beethoven (dedicated to Lobkovic) and Quartet No 1 C Major by Johann Joseph Rösler. Two of the compositions will have the premiere performance: Quartet by the second violin of the quartet Jirzi Sycha, with a clearly recognizable influence from the national music of the Eastern Moravia and the composition of the Swiss composer Vincent Flückiger – Broadway, for string quartet, fortepiano, and sampler. Together with Alena Henigova and Vincent Flückiger, Eisenberg Quartett will perform at Luznava Manor (September 16) and the Small Hall of the Embassy of Latgale GORS (September 17).
As the conclusion of the festival on September 19, at the Embassy of Latgale GORS, and on September 20, at the Music Hall “Daile” in Riga, a place will take the production, comic opera of the 19th century – “Murder for Revenge”, by the Czech composer Johann Joseph Rösler. Director of the production – Miroslav Rovensky, Artistic Director – Alena Henigova. This opera is a witty and bright parody about the dramatic Italian opera of the 18th century. Opera has it’s four characters – falsely accused landlord Ricardo (Jaromir Nosek, bass), judge Fernando (Daniel Issa, tenor), kidnapped wife of the judge Isabella (Alena Honigova, soprano), and the judge’s servant Bruno (Javier Hagen, bariton). The mysterious setting of the opera is placed in with the ancient and dark underground hallways of a castle. Opera will be performed in Italian with subtitles in Latvian.
From September 14 to September 17 in the Music School of Janis Ivanovs a place will take the singing, piano, violin and cello master classes in an interpretation of the baroque and classicism, as well as a the meeting with the composers Jirzi Sycha and Vincent Flückiger. However, during the festival in Latgale Culture and History Museum will be displayed a photo exhibition presenting the Jezezhi castle in Czech Republic.
Festival “Baroque Music Days in Rezekne” is a unique event in the measure not only Latvia, but also the world. The mission of the festival has always been providing an opportunity for the audience to experience and enjoy the compositions, which in a form of the transcripts have laid on the shelves of libraries for centuries. Here resounds the music that has stayed silent for more than 200 or 300 years. This year also, Baroque Music Days will bring to the light the compositions that will be a discovery for both, listeners and musicians themselves.
Baroque Music Days festival of the last year was celebrating the 10th anniversary and was dedicated to the personality of composer Johann Gottfried Müthel. Artistic Director of the Festival, cellist Ilze Grudule was nominated with the multimedial production, opera-pasticcio “House for Müthel” for “Diena Annual Culture Award 2014” in a category “Most Notable Music Event of 2014”.
Festival “Baroque Music Days in Rezekne” of 2015 is supported by the Ministry of Culture, State Culture Capital Foundation, Rezekne City Council, the Embassy of Latgale GORS, Český Hudební Fund, Czech Foreign Ministry, Embassy of the Czech Republic in Latvia, Kultur Basel and Pro Helvetia.
