Live Stream Fourth Sunday of Advent Concert “18th-Century Advent in Riga”
Free live stream. Watch here: https://youtu.be/47RhocvDhq8
As the Christmas season continues, on Sunday, December 20, at 7:00 PM, the MCCAC “Mazā Ģilde” will offer viewers a journey through time, experiencing the Advent season 300 years ago in the live stream concert “18th-Century Advent in Riga”. The concert will feature Elīna Šimkus (soprano), the baroque orchestra “Collegium Musicum Riga”, conductor Māris Kupčs, and baroque dancer Jūratė Širvytė-Rukštelė from Lithuania.
The concert program will feature works by composers living at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries – George Frideric Handel, Johann Fischer, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Dieterich Buxtehude, and other composers.
Elīna Šimkus is a Latvian opera singer who has performed with great success and earned critical acclaim in numerous stage roles. She is a laureate of the VII International Klaudia Taev Competition for Young Opera Singers (Pärnu, Estonia, 2011). The foreign press has described her as having a “brilliant timbre, endowed with a beautiful cantilena and a strikingly gorgeous and stable upper register” and a “youthful and fresh-sounding soprano”. Elīna acknowledges that alongside the works of Classical and Romantic composers, early music occupies a significant place in her creative biography.
The baroque orchestra “Collegium Musicum Riga” was founded in 1990, taking its resonant name from an orchestra that existed in Riga in the 17th century. Just like back then, the musicians performing in “Collegium Musicum Riga” today are united by a shared love for baroque music. A wise and invaluable guide in revealing its secrets and beauty is the ensemble’s artistic director – the dedicated researcher of early music, including the subtleties of the Baroque and Classical repertoire, Māris Kupčs.
