Santa Šillere Trio: “Jazz and Christmas” | Warm Letters

This evening invites you on a musical journey between the familiar and the unexpected—between melodies kept in our memories and new musical stories created here and now, in the moment of the concert. The programme features arrangements of works by Raimonds Pauls, Uldis Marhilēvičs and Imants Kalniņš, the world’s best-loved Christmas melodies, as well as original compositions by the musicians themselves. Familiar songs will take on a new sound, while jazz improvisation will reveal them from an unexpected perspective.

The festive evening’s musical atmosphere will be created by three musicians from Latvia’s jazz scene: singer Santa Šillere, guitarist Jānis Pastars and Hammond organist Atis Andersons. In Santa Šillere’s musical style, jazz traditions blend naturally with influences from contemporary music, the freedom of improvisation and emotional depth. Jānis Pastars’s guitar sound and the varied possibilities of Atis Andersons’s Hammond organ create a distinctive musical space in which Christmas melodies gain both warmth and sparkling energy.

Santa Šillere Trio’s concert at Pegaza Viesistaba is part of the Advent concert series “Warm Letters”, taking place at Pegaza Pagalms in December 2026. The concert series will be accompanied by the participatory art installation “Wall of Warm Letters”. Everyone is invited to write warm words, wishes or encouragement for the six children from different Latvian cities who are the ambassadors of the “Angels Over Latvia” campaign. After the campaign, the letters will be delivered to the children, while during the concerts they will come together to form a special work of art.