Liepāja Concert Hall “Great Amber” grandly celebrated its 10th anniversary

With two monumental concerts and the audience’s thunderous standing ovations on November 7 and 8, the tenth anniversary of the Liepāja Concert Hall “Great Amber” was celebrated.

The culmination of the festival was crowned by Arnold Schönberg’s romantic oratorio “Gurre-Lieder”, which brought together more than 250 professional musicians on one stage – five soloists, a large mixed choir, three male choirs, and a grand orchestra. This event also marked one of the significant milestones within the Liepāja – European Capital of Culture 2027 program.

“Gurre-Lieder” was chosen with the intention of offering the audience something majestic, monumental, beautiful, and pure – something that could provide strength in these complex times of change. This work of colossal scale also represents a major artistic challenge. The opus has been performed in Latvia only twice before, which makes these two concerts in Liepāja truly historic events.

Under the direction of conductor Modestas Pitrėnas, the performance united the State Choir Latvia, the Riga Project Choir, the Estonian National Male Choir, the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra, and the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra. The powerful love story of Tove and King Waldemar was brought to life by the darkly beautiful and radiant voice of Magdalena Anna Hofmann and by Corby Welch, an American opera singer well known to Latvian audiences. They were joined by Frankfurt Opera soloist Zanda Švēde (Wood-Dove), one of the leading soloists of the Latvian National Opera Mihails Čuļpajevs (the Fool Klaus), and the distinguished German-Latvian bass-baritone Oliver Zwarg, who took on the roles of the Peasant and the Narrator.

The concert “Schönberg’s Gurre-Lieder. Anniversary Celebration” was organized by the Liepāja Concert Hall “Great Amber”. It was held as part of the project “Stars in Amber” within the Liepāja 2027 program, supported by funding from the Ministry of Culture, the Liepāja State City Municipality, and the municipalities of South Kurzeme and Kuldīga. Additional support was provided by the State Culture Capital Foundation, the Uniting Foundation, Compensa Vienna Insurance Group ADB Latvian Branch, Compensa Life Vienna Insurance Group SE Latvian Branch, the Austrian Embassy in Latvia, Latvian Radio 3, and the café “Čello”.