Participating
Ksenija Sidorova (accordion)
Liepaja Symphony Orchestra
Conductor
Guntis Kuzma
Program
Arturs Maskats (1957) “Tango”
Tenu Kerivits (1969) Concerto for Accordion and Orchestra “Dances” (“Tantsud”) (Latvian premiere)
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) Symphony No. 4
At the end of the season, the Liepaja Symphony Orchestra will once again meet Ksenija Sidorova, and under the baton of Guntis Kuzma this reunion is planned on a scale worthy of a season finale. The outstanding accordionist, who was the special guest of the Liepaja Symphony’s New Year’s concert at the end of 2024, will this time become the central figure of the concert’s first half.
In the first part of the concert, Ksenija Sidorova will appear in two different musical roles, offering two views of dance at the same time.
Tenu Kerivits’ accordion concerto “Tantsud,” or “Dances,” was written especially for Sidorova, who gave its premiere in July 2024 at the Parnu Music Festival together with the festival orchestra and conductor Paavo Järvi.
The four-movement cycle begins with a solo cadenza and a journey from “Darkness” to Under the Cajun Moon, linking the accordion with echoes of Louisiana Cajun music-making. In the other three movements, historical dance forms are transformed, though Kerivits does not attempt to restore them - the old forms become different ways of movement and musical thinking in a contemporary concerto.
Arturs Maskats’ “Tango,” played by Sidorova, is set within a broader symphonic landscape. If Kerivits juxtaposes dance forms from different traditions, Maskats views tango as a whole cultural phenomenon, encompassing its different faces from tavern and midnight city music to the concert hall and the tradition of Astor Piazzolla. Here the familiar pulse of dance is not just a rhythmic accompaniment: it emerges from an ever-changing orchestral texture, recedes, and returns in another guise, becoming the material of symphonic drama.
In the second half of the concert, dance does not disappear, but is transferred into the very structure of the symphonic form. The finale of Johannes Brahms’ Fourth Symphony is built on a principle related to the Baroque passacaglia or chaconne: an eight-bar structure becomes the basis for thirty variations, constantly changing in melodies, rhythms, and orchestral colors. It is precisely the passacaglia that reveals a meaningful connection with Kerivits’ “Tantsud”: Kerivits incorporates an ancient dance form into a modern accordion concerto cycle, while Brahms turns it into the finale of a symphony. In both works, repetition is not a return to the starting point, but a driving force of change.
From Kerivits’ dances and Maskats’ tango to Brahms’ passacaglia, this program repeatedly transforms the idea of dance and rhythm, allowing the season to end not with a full stop, but with a dance step toward summer.
INFORMATION FOR VISITORS:
The concert uses an extended stage, so in practice row 5 is the first audience row.
Discounts:
Students, disabled persons, pensioners - 5 euros
School students - 50%
3+ family card holders - 30%
Companion of a person with disability group I/II - 50%
Groups (10 or more visitors) - 20%
When purchasing group tickets online, please write to sales@lso.lv
When attending the concert, visitors must present a document confirming eligibility for the discount.
Useful:
The concert is accessible to people with hearing impairments, as the induction loop function will be activated during the event. Based on the experience of people with hearing impairments who have tried this system, the best listening experience is available in the center area of the stalls from rows 5 to 12 - from seats 6 to 28.
The concert is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia and the City of Liepaja.
