The fourth annual Opera Gala Concert “To Andrejs Žagars from Friends” will take place at the Cēsis Concert Hall.

The Andrejs Žagars Foundation for Culture, in collaboration with the Vidzeme Concert Hall “Cēsis”, will host the fourth annual “To Andrejs Žagars from Friends” concert on 5 November.

The concert will feature internationally renowned soloists and the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra (LNSO) under the direction of Maestro Gintars Rinkēvičs. The concert will feature Perrine Madoeuf, a French soprano living in Riga who currently sings in French opera houses, including the Grand Opera in Paris; Nino Surguladze, a Georgian mezzo-soprano known as the Penelope Cruz of opera, who sings in the world’s leading opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, British Royal Opera, and Bavarian State Opera, and is regarded as one of the leading Carmen performers. Nino Surguladze has performed this role in Andrejs Žagars’ Carmen in Bologna, Tokyo, and Riga; Liparit Avetisyan, a leading Armenian tenor with an extensive international career and highly regarded by opera critics, has performed at the British Royal Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Zurich Opera, Opera Australia, and other major opera houses.

Liparit Avetisyan received the Golden Mask for his performance as Chevalier des Grieux, directed by Andrejs Žagars, at the Stanislavsky Opera Theatre in Moscow. Edgars Ošlejs was awarded the Latvian Great Music Prize 2021 for Young Artist of the Year. Maestro Gintars Rinkēvičs, who previously worked with Andrejs Žagars as chief conductor of the Latvian National Opera, has led the orchestra to international prominence and success.

The Andrejs Žagars Cultural Development Foundation, founded by the former director of the Latvian National Opera and Ballet, organises the concert to promote the development, and prestige of Latvia’s cultural environment. “Every year, we put together a concert programme with the help of outstanding soloists and conductors who have worked with Andrejs on his productions as well as his important projects while being the Director of the Opera, such as Richard Wagner’s opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. Opera concerts in Cēsis have already become a beautiful tradition,” says Arturs Maskats, the creator of the concert programme, and a board member of the Andrejs Žagars Cultural Development Foundation.

The Andrejs Žagars Culture Support and Development Foundation was founded in 2016 and started its activities with the touring performances of the second joint work of the renowned director, theatre and audio-visual artist Robert Wilson and Mikhail Baryshnikov – the mono-performance Letter to a Man – at the Latvian National Opera. This was followed by a concert featuring the internationally acclaimed singer Kristīne Opolais in Latvia. With the support of the Foundation, Latvia has hosted some of Europe’s greatest ballet dancers and choreographers as well as one of the world’s greatest music ensembles – the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under the direction of Andris Nelsons. The Foundation’s work is now being carried out by Andrejs’ friends and supporters, who dedicate their gratitude to the late patron Dina Zuzāne. Since 2019, the Vidzeme Concert Hall “Cēsis” has hosted Gala Concerts of Opera Music dedicated to Andrejs, featuring world-renowned opera singers accompanied by the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, including Kristīne Opolais, Irēne Teorīne, Oļesja Petrova, Aleksandrs Antoņenko, Egils Siliņš, and others.