Opera stars and friends gather in Cēsis for a concert dedicated to Andrejs Žagars

9. in November, the Vidzeme concert hall “Cēsis” hosted the concert “To Andrejs Žagars from Friends”, featuring opera diva Kristīne Opolais, the new director of the Latvian National Opera and Ballet (LNOB), internationally acclaimed bass-baritone Egils Siliņš, singers Jonathan Tetelman, Mihails Čuļpajevs, and the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra under conductor Mārtiņš Ozoliņš.

The programme featured opera music close to Andrejs Žagars, including arias from Richard Wagner, Giuseppe Verdi, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Giacomo Puccini, Georges Bizet, Umberto Giordano, and Arthur Rubinstein. The concert also featured “Tango” by composer Arturs Maskats.

The concert was completely sold out and part of the proceeds will go to the Andrejs Žagars Cultural Development Foundation. “We are already planning to launch a summer academy for young opera singers next summer. Finding, nurturing, educating and giving opportunities for further career development of young talents was the work of Andrejs Žagars, which he valued the most. Now it’s time to take it a step further: we want to create a platform for emerging stars to collaborate with great teachers and artists who, in turn, have been assisted by Andrejs in breaking onto the international stage.

We are delighted that the world-famous Latvian conductor Andris Nelsons, whose talent flourished thanks to the support of Andrejs Žagars, has agreed to become a patron of the Foundation. We are grateful to Kristīne Opolais, whose contribution to the Foundation by singing at this first concert will be a great support for the future project, as well as Egils Siliņš and all the participants,” says Normunds Matutis, Member of the Board of the Cultural Development Foundation.