Zigmars Liepiņš: Mass. National Day Concert

The programme celebrating Latvia’s 108th birthday will bring leading classical music artists together at the concert hall, offering us a much-needed dose of light and hope during the darkest time of the year. At its centre will be Zigmars Liepiņš’s monumental “Mass 2020”, complemented in the first half of the concert by one of the most beautiful, romantic and significant symphonies in Latvian music: Jāzeps Mediņš’s Second Symphony, “In Bloom”.

The central message of Zigmars Liepiņš’s “Mass 2020” is: “Grant us peace!” “Mass 2020” was composed in the spring of 2020, when many of us were in a state of considerable uncertainty and anxiety—and, yes, fear of death. Who could have predicted then that, in the year “Mass 2020” would receive its premiere, Russia would invade Ukraine and the world would become tangled in many knots that are difficult to untie? Here we have a traditional Mass, but an unconventional one—in Latvian.

This absolutely beautiful work will be performed by the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra and the State Choir LATVIJA, whose sound will be joined by the male vocal ensemble Auxilium, under the direction of the well-known and audience-favourite conductor Jānis Liepiņš.