WAITING FOR THE EASTER MIRACLE

On Maundy Thursday the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra in cooperation with the State Choir “Latvija”, soprano Jolanta Strikaite and composer Kārlis Lācis playing the piano under the direction of the conductor Māris Sirmais will offer their listeners a musical contemplation of the mundane and the transcendental.

The Adagietto from the Symphony No.5 by Gustav Mahler is one of the superhits of symphonic music – a dreamily lyrical love letter to his wife Alma, which is also like a well of light in this symphony, which starts off with a heroic struggle and turns into a funeral march.

Lightness and poignancy also intertwine in the key composition of the concert – the symphony “Stations of the Cross” by Kārlis Lācis, which premiered in 2015.

The initiator of creation of the work is Māris Sirmais, the artistic director of the State Academic Choir “Latvija”, who has already had successful creative cooperation with Kārlis Lācis multiple times.

Kārlis Lācis: “These are semiotic reflections on the Station of the Cross in terms of contrast between era and personality. A man in spiritual hunger just like a wolf surrenders to the call of the blood of the pack and does not accept his fasting cross. He soothes the pain of the soul by hurting the body – his own and other people’s bodies. Recklessly. Endlessly. The Stations of the Cross as an illustrative example given by Christ, a metaphor destined to remain within the walls of the church. Why does a Man need a Saviour? Is it to shift the responsibility from yourself to someone who will hopefully come as a Saviour? How many lone wolves with scarred bodies will stop and hear the voice of their soul? How many people will change? Am I close to God or has he yet to call me?”

Participants:
Kārlis Lācis (piano)
Jolanta Strikaite-Lapiņa (soprano)
Dāvis Jurka (saxophone)

Sate Choir “Latvija”
Liepāja Symphony Orchestra
Conductor Māris Sirmais

Programme:
Gustav Mahler (1860–1911): Adagietto from Symphony No.5
Kārlis Lācis (1977): Symphony “Stations of the Cross”