DANCES FOR SAXOPHONE AND ACCORDION | Aigars Raumanis, Artūrs Noviks, Baloži Cultural House 65

DANCES FOR SAXOPHONE AND ACCORDION

Aigars Raumanis – saxophone

Artūrs Noviks – accordion

We will celebrate the 65th anniversary of Baloži Cultural House with a sparkling, spirited concert program full of dance energy, in which saxophone and accordion will meet on stage - two instruments with especially wide sonic and rhythmic possibilities.

The concert program “Dances for Saxophone and Accordion” was created from Aigars Raumanis and Artūrs Noviks’ desire, after previous collaborations in the Trio Tresensus and the Riga Saxophone Quartet projects, to create a shared duo program. Saxophone and accordion feel equally at home in academic chamber music and in repertoire inspired by tango, folk music, jazz, and various world music traditions.

At the center of the program is dance - movement, rhythm, and temperament. Listeners will embark on a musical journey from Astor Piazzolla’s passionate Argentine tango to Gorka Hermosa’s dance scenes from the Iberian Peninsula, Latin American rhythms, and Pedro Iturralde’s Greek music-inspired Suite hellénique. Meanwhile, in Richard Galliano’s music, the French accordion tradition meets tango and the colors of world music. Latvian music in the program is represented by Alvils Altmanis’ “Tango”.

At times the dance will be fiery and swift, at others elegant, playful, or only faintly suggested in the musical pulse. The singing timbre of the saxophone and the accordion’s rich palette of sounds will allow both musicians to be nuanced and lyrical as well as rhythmically sharp and energetic.

“Dances for Saxophone and Accordion” is a musical greeting to Baloži Cultural House on its 65th anniversary - a festive concert with fiery dances, sparkling energy, and the joy of making music together.