The celebration program for Latvia’s 108th birthday at the Concert Hall will bring together the brightest artists of academic music, offering much-needed light and hope during the darkest time of the year. At its center will be Zigmars Liepiņš’ monumental ‘Mesa 2020’ (‘Mass 2020’), preceded in the first half of the concert by one of the most beautiful, romantic and significant symphonies in Latvian music, Jāzeps Mediņš’ Symphony No. 2 ‘Ziedonī’ (‘In the Spring’).

The central message of Zigmars Liepiņš’ Mesa 2020 is: grant us peace. It was composed in the spring of 2020, when many of us were living in profound uncertainty, confusion and even fear of death. Who could have foreseen that, in same the year as ‘Mesa’ was premiered, Russia would invade Ukraine and the world would become so impossibly entangled? Here, we encounter a traditional Mass, presented unconventionally – in Latvian.

ZIGMARS LIEPIŅŠ’ MASS. INDEPENDENCE DAY CONCERT