International Cello Festival CELLO CESIS

The International cello festival Cello Cēsis is the only cello festival in the Baltic-Nordic region and is produced by Cēsis Concert Hall.

Cello Cēsis is happening annualy in September, and it aims to help the listeners discover the inimitable voice and diverse sound of the cello through performances of both world-renowned cello players and young musicians. A wide range of musical genres are represented in the festival programme, from symphony and chamber music to contemporary and crossover pieces.

The programme of the festival Cello Cēsis is unique; every year it is created for festival performances only. It is tailored to demonstrate the essence and the most brilliant musical pieces written for the cello, from Baroque to the present day. A distinctly internationally orientated festival, Cello Cēsis has already hosted appearances by world-renowned cello players like Nicolas Altstaedt, Leonard Elschenbroich, Maximilan Hornung, Danjulo Ishizaka and Daniel Müller-Schott from Germany, Marko Ylonen from Finland, Marc Coppey from France, Mario Brunello from Italy, Narek Hakhnazaryan from Armenia, Ashley Bathgate from the USA and many more. The festival’s concerts have also featured performances by the best internationally recognised Latvian cellists.

The concert “Cello Stars and Sinfonetta Riga”, performed at the first “Cello Cēsis” festival in 2015, was nominated as “Concert of the Year” at the Grand Music Awards of Latvia, the most prestigious national music awards.

VII Cello Cēsis International festival will take place over two weekends in September, opening on 18 September with a programme of alternative music Cello Cēsis Ambient; it will be followed by a number of concerts between 24 and 26 September with appearances by guest solo musicians, both experienced and representing the younger generation of cello players, from Poland, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Latvia.

The alternative programme, consisting of three concerts on the same night, on 18 September, represents a variety of musical genres and directions, outlining a quest for a new sound in cello music. The concept of the ‘1920’ concert programme by Margarita Balanas was developed in creative association with the Scottish composer Lucie Treacher; ‘Portals’, a new piece by Treacher included in the programme, was written especially for Cello Cēsis. Complemented by theatrical elements, Lucie’s piece with its musical quotations from Stravinsky, Gershwin, Ravel, jazz and blues will take the listener to the 1920s. All the musical material performed on the night is arranged for a specific musical ensemble consisting of cello, percussion, piano and double bass. The minimalist movement will be represented at the opening concert by the British composer and musical producer Tom Adams and the Berlin-based Argentine cellist Sebastian Plano. The purity of the sound space and the atmospheric character of their music, a stark contrast to the over-saturated environment of the Internet, will take the listener to a world where a sense of genuineness and truth is still alive. The night will come to a conclusion with ‘Traces’, a project for cello and percussion by the Polish cello player Resina; featuring electronic effects and elements of video art, this unique musical experience with its unusual sound will venture beyond the boundaries of traditional sound space.

The second stage of the festival, running between 24 and 26 September, will offer classical values and open with a programme for children. The Friday matinee concert on 24 September will be a cello celebration for families with children and groups of school students. Musical show The Cosmos Conquerors, a joint project with OORKAAN, a Dutch company specialising in musical productions for children and young adults, will feature appearances by Latvian musicians in collaboration with a stage director and lighting designer from the Netherlands.

On Friday night, the special guest of the festival, Italian composer and cello player Giovanni Sollima will reveal a diverse and unexpected sound of the cello in his ‘Folk Cello’ solo programme, taking the listener on a musical journey and opening new surprising horizons. The programme will feature a range of melodies for the cello, from Baroque to traditional music of many nations and songs from the musician’s native Sicily.

The Saturday matinee concert on 26 September will present a programme by Dream Team, the cello group of Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, featuring a new piece by the young Latvian composer Linda Leimane. On Saturday night, in the main concert of this year’s festival, Antonín Dvořák’s Cello Concerto and Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5 will be performed by the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra and cellists Kristaps Bergs and Giovanni Sollima under the baton of the young conductor Maxim Emelyanychev.

The programme of the festival’s closing concert is a collaboration with the Latvian Radio Big Band, featuring appearance by two solo musicians: Margarita Balanas will perform the 1980 Concerto for Cello and Wind Orchestra by the eccentric Austrian composer Friedrich Gulda, and the Swedish double bass player and cellist Lars Danielsson will present an improvisation-driven jazz-inspired programme, exploring the potential of both musical instruments he has in his arsenal.

Like every year, in association with Jāzeps Vītols Academy of Music, cello students will have an opportunity to take part in master classes by Giovanni Sollima and Margarita Balanas.

Saturday, 18 September 2021 at 19:00

CELLO CĒSIS AMBIENT

TOM ADAMS & SEBASTIAN PLANO, RESINA AND MARGARITA BALANAS

The seventh edition of Cello Cēsis International festival opens with an innovative alternative programme that will strike a chord both with lovers of classical values and listeners whose musical taste and previous concert experience may have been somewhat different. Three concert programmes, each reflecting a different musical genre and a different musical quest, will be presented on a single night.

The tandem Sebastian Plano (a Berlin-based Argentine composer and cellist) and Tom Adams (a composer and pianist from the UK) promises a programme combining minimalism, electronic and acoustic music). Regular concertgoers in Cēsis will remember them from 2019, when both artists appeared with their solo programmes in the Ambiente Stage series of recitals. Their collaboration started several years ago when Plano produced an album by Adams. This year, the two musicians will present their joint project ‘TAER’. Multi-instrumental-sounding, atmospheric, intimate and lyrical: that is how we could describe the cello sound we will hear on this Saturday evening.

Alongside the ambient set by Plano and Adams, we will also hear the latest programme by the Polish composer, cellist and representative of the independent music scene Resina, created in association with the percussion maestro Mateusz Rychlicki. After graduating from the Gdańsk Academy of Music, Resina has embraced the alternative movement and has been an active contributor to the Polish independent music since 2000. Resina’s music is experimental, unpredictable, emotionally resonant and vibrant. The cello, sound loops, electronics, percussion and the artist’s vocals ‒ together, all of that creates a unique, vivid and electrified sound where the structure of the musical piece coexists with improvisation.

The third artist taking part in Cello Cēsis Ambient is the cellist Margarita Balanas, a frequent guest at the festival. The concept of her new programme entitled ‘1920’ was developed in collaboration with the Scottish composer Lucie Treacher; it will feature a premiere of Treacher’s new piece, ‘Portals’; it was written especially for Cello Cēsis. The piece is unique in that it is interrupted by theatrical elements that will take the listener on a journey to the 1920s, where quotations from Stravinsky, Gershwin and Ravel, as well as jazz and blues will serve as the musical means of expression. The music in the programme is arranged for a specific ensemble that includes the cello, percussion, piano and double bass.

Friday, 24 September 2021 at 13:00

A concert production for families and children THE CELLO WARRIORS

Cello Cēsis and OORKAAN, a Dutch production company that has been creating musical programmes for children and young adults for 20 years, present a unique musical collaboration. OORKAAN is proud of its original style based on a very simple artistic idea: all the ‘actors’ taking part in every production are always professional musicians, and the main character of the show is music.

In its programme for families and children, Cello Cēsis will stay loyal to this principle and surprise the spectators with a musical story created especially for the festival; the lead parts will be played by cellists, delighting and sometimes making laugh with their virtuosic musical skills, elements of mime, acrobatics and comedy.

Friday, 24 September 2021 at 19:00

GIOVANNI SOLLIMA. FOLK CELLO

The Italian cello player Giovanni Sollima, a classical artist enjoying the status of a rock star, has given new life to an instrument familiar to the world for over 300 years ‒ the cello.

His music is much loved by a vast audience – from typical lovers of academic music to fans of pop. Sollima conquers everybody’s heart. There is an abundance of Mediterranean rhythms and characteristic Italian melodies to his music.

The festival presents Sollima’s latest concert programme ‘Folk Cello’, which will take the listener on a musical journey, opening new and unexpected horizons. Th