RAIMONDS PAULS, DAUMANTS KALNIŅŠ AND LATVIAN RADIO BIG BAND, a concert

August 7 / 19.00 / Open-air Stage, the Cēsis Medieval Castle Park

Spanning almost a decade now, the creative collaboration between Raimonds Pauls and Daumants Kalniņš has seen the two musicians mount musical programmes with the Latvian Radio Big Band, Rīga Orchestra, singers Ilona Bagele, Dināra Rudāne, Kristīne Prauliņa, the string ensemble of Latvian National Symphony Orchestra and also appear as a duo with the ‘Bird Songs’ song cycle set to poems by Inese Zandere. Alongside tarantellas, meadowsweet waltzes, dreams, wagtails and skylarks inspired by Zandere, their concert in Cēsis will feature a selection of popular and long-loved songs by the Maestro with lyrics by Alfrēds Krūklis and bring back to memory his wonderful ballads set to poems by Imants Ziedonis. The programme also includes Raimonds Pauls’ 1960s instrumental masterpiece ‘Southern Watercolours’ that takes the listener on a journey down some jungle paths, under the starlit nocturnal southern sky and through a hurricane.

The two musicians have also cast an aura of mystery by promising to surprise the audience with a ‘musical dessert’ prepared especially for the occasion.