The event was attended by Georgian politicians, entrepreneurs, representatives of cultural circles and diplomats accredited in Tbilisi. Maya Plisetskaya and Rodion Shchedrinwere honoured guests of the party.
The concert of the Latvian choir took place during the visit of the Latvian Minister of Culture Dace Melbarde to Georgia.A special programme was organised during this period, which, apart from choir music, included other cultural and artistic events as well. The programme was prepared by the Embassy of Latvia in Georgia at the initiative of the Ambassador Elita Gavele with the support of Rietumu Bank.
The concert of the Choir Latvia, which is well-known worldwide, was held in the Tbilisi Conservatoire to a full house. It was attended by the Minister of Culture of Latvia Dace Melbarde, the Mayor of Tbilisi David Narmaniya and the Patriarch of all of Georgia Iliya II. Russian cultural circles were represented by the prima ballerina Diana Vishneva, the leading soloist of the Mariinsky Theatre ballet Irma Neoradze, as well as the star couple Maya Plisetskaya and Rodion Shchedrin.
As Rodion Shchedrin noted, “I derived much pleasure from this concert in Tbilisi. The Choir Latvia under the guidance of director Maris Sirmajs is one of the best in Europe; we have been working with this wonderful professional team for a long time. And I sincerely love Riga – it is the place where my works are always warmly welcomed, and it is very pleasing.”
The Choir Latvia, founded in the 1940s, has a long history of cooperation with the most famous European and world orchestras, such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra from the Netherlands
, the Bavarian Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and many others.
“We are very glad that we have succeeded in arranging and holding such a bright and impressive cultural event in Tbilisi. The Choir Latvia enjoyed a very warm welcome. I am sure that there should be many more such guest tours, because culture nowadays not only brings people together but also becomes a common language that allows us to understand each other and cooperate efficiently in different areas, including business,” said the Member of the Rietumu Bank Council Alexander Gafin.
With its strong age-old traditions of choral singing, Latvia, is one of the leading countries of the world in this field of culture. The traditional all-national choral Song Festival is included in the UNESCO list of world cultural heritage.
The Latvian cultural programme in Georgia was held within the framework of the project“Riga – the 2014 European Capital of Culture” and the task of this guest tour among other things was to inform the public of Tbilisi about it.
Eleonora Gailisha Mass Media and Public Relations
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