Famous violinist Vineta Sareika and musicians of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra will perform at the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra Concert Hall "Latvija".
On Saturday, March 1, at 16.00:XNUMX PM, world-renowned violinist Vineta Sareika and musicians of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra will perform at the “Latvija” concert hall, performing compositions by Franz Schubert, Samuel Barber, and Carl Amadeus Hartmann.
Describing the program created for Ventspils and the “Latvija” concert hall, Vineta Sareika reveals that it will be beautiful and soulful, but at the same time with a serious mood: “We will start with the famous “Adagio” by Barber for strings, but then we will follow with “Concerto funebre” by Karl Amadeus Hartmann, which is a very profound piece. It was composed in 1939, in difficult circumstances and at a difficult time, which unfortunately also resonates with what we see today. The second part will feature an arrangement of Schubert’s famous “Death and the Maiden” string quartet for string orchestra.”
The added value of Vineta Sareika's concerts is the instrument she uses – it is a unique opportunity to hear a violin made by the famous violin master Antonio Stradivari in 1683. "The Stradivari violin inspires me. If a modern instrument has a few nuances, then with an ancient instrument in the quiet places I can discover a hundred thousand nuances, it is a bouquet like that of a good wine that cannot be described," says the violinist.
Vineta Sareika's international career began in 2009, when she became a laureate of the Queen Elizabeth International Violin Competition. Vineta Sareika collaborates with outstanding orchestras – the London Philharmonia Orchestra, the National Orchestra of Belgium, the Royal Flemish Orchestra, the Lisbon Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Chamber Orchestra, but in 2022 the violinist joined the Berlin Philharmonic. In 2023, by winning the competition, she became the first concertmaster of the world-famous ensemble and the first woman in the orchestra's 141-year history to hold this position. However, in February 2025, the Latvian violinist gave her last concert as a member of this famous ensemble. Vineta Sareika has created programs with famous conductors – Andris Nelsons, Paul Goodwin, Gilbert Vargas, Jean-Bernard Pommier and Gerard Corsten, and many others.
Samuel Barber’s “Adagio” grew out of the second movement of his only string quartet. It was premiered in 1938 under the baton of Arturo Toscanini, and the piece immediately gained considerable audience favor. “Adagio” also clearly illuminates the composer’s tonal musical thinking, which often came into conflict with his contemporaries, who sought their own style in modernist compositional techniques. But perhaps it is precisely the language of music, which allows emotions to come to the fore – direct, rich, and genuine – that has ensured the work’s longevity and meaning even today.
In 1824, Franz Schubert composed his 14th string quartet, which was destined to become one of the greatest. The title of the string quartet “Death and the Girl” is borrowed from a song previously composed by Schubert, the theme of which is used in the second part of the quartet. In turn, the motif of death and the girl has been widespread in German culture since the Renaissance, and although he was already seriously ill, Schubert probably treated the image of death here as the girl’s lover.
Meanwhile, German composer Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s only violin concerto, Concerto Funebre, was written in response to the annexation of Czechoslovakia in World War II. The concerto’s introduction uses the Hussite anthem, symbolizing the Czechs’ centuries-long struggle for freedom. Hartmann was not afraid to find himself in the saturated 20th-century modernist music scene, even in spite of a regime he did not support.
The concert of Vineta Sareika and the LNSO musicians is organized by SIA “Kurzemes filharmonija” with the support of the Ventspils City Municipality and the State Cultural Capital Foundation. Tickets are available at all “Biļešu paradīze” sales points and online. In addition to the concert ticket, it is possible to add a VIP offer – “Music Friends Club” – with the opportunity to use the cloakroom and enjoy refreshments in the “Greenroom” room on the second floor of the concert hall.
