CHRISTMAS IN JAZZ AND SAMBA RHYTHM

Participants:

Orchestra RIGA

Pianist Andrejs Osokins

Conductor Valdis Butāns

At the end of this year, Orchestra RIGA offers its listeners a special program full of joy, CHRISTMAS IN JAZZ AND SAMBA RHYTHM. This concert program will be performed on December 26 in Riga, in the Great Guild, and on December 27 in the Cultural Center of the Ogre region.

The first part of the concert is characterized by subtlety and intelligence, in which the Orchestra RIGA once again invites the outstanding pianist Andrejs Osokins to cooperate. In his performance, we will hear George Gershwin’s “Concerto for piano and orchestra in F”. Gershwin’s biographer David Schiff once summed up the fusion of classical and popular music in Gershwin’s music: “In Gershwin’s music, elements of classical music are stylized, not popular. For example, the Piano Concerto in F begins with a percussion fanfare that has little to do with the work after that. But in this way, Gershwin creates internal contradictions in classical music. A fugue also appears in this concerto, but disappears just as quickly. Although Gershwin’s stylizations were most often based on the tradition of Liszt or Tchaikovsky, he nevertheless followed the developments of his time and subordinated the ancient traditions to his goals and his unique style.” (quote used from Latvian Radio 3 archive).

The second part of the concert will bring not so traditional Christmas feelings to the listeners: popular Christmas melodies will be played in hot-blooded and joyful rhythms of Latin American and jazz music. You can close your eyes and imagine how “Swinging Santa Claus” or “Jingle Belss goes Rio” will sound. On chilly December evenings, we will conjure up warm summer scenes and general fun worthy of a carnival in these concert halls!