On September 3, the Latvian National Opera and Ballet will open its 2025/2026 season with a festive Gala Concert. The program is created by the Latvian National Opera’s Chief Conductor Mārtiņš Ozoliņš, Artistic Director of the Latvian National Ballet Aivars Leimanis, and stage director Elita Bukovska. The concert’s principal supporter is Citadele Bank.

The first part of the Gala will be dedicated to ballet, featuring fragments from last season’s new productions – Kenneth Tindall’s Casanova and Aivars Leimanis’s Esmeralda. The solo parts will be danced by Sabīne Strokša, Jūlija Brauere, Annija Kopštāle, Gundega Guna Reinika, Kārlis Cīrulis, Viktors Seiko, Aleksandrs Osadčijs, Germans Ševčenko, Robert Nae, and others. In excerpts from Casanova, audiences will have the opportunity to discover Amir Dodarkhojayev, the new principal dancer of the Latvian National Ballet. Emma Lagūna, Finian Patrick Hepting, Alisa Tomkoviča, Krista Štrausa, Aeden William Conefrey, and Izabella Monastirska-Urtāne will perform variations from classical ballets in which they made their debuts last season. Contemporary ballet will be represented by Marco Goecke’s Firebird, danced by Elza Leimane and Antons Freimanis. The Latvian National Opera Orchestra will be conducted by Mārtiņš Ozoliņš and Farhads Stade.

The second part of the concert, under the musical direction of Mārtiņš Ozoliņš, will be dedicated to opera. The program will feature music from this season’s upcoming new productions – Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana, Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, and Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème. Looking back at last season, the concert will also include music from Francesco Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur, Charles Gounod’s Faust, Giuseppe Verdi’s Macbeth, and Johann Strauss’s operetta Die Fledermaus. Soloists appearing in the concert include Jānis Apeinis, Andris Ludvigs, Rihards Millers, Jūlija Vasiļjeva, Rinalds Kandalincevs, Dana Bramane, Raimonds Bramanis, Inna Kločko, Rihards Mačanovskis, Tatjana Trenogina, Inga Šļubovska-Kancēviča, Artjoms Safronovs, together with the Latvian National Opera Chorus and Orchestra.

For the first time, audiences will also be introduced to tenor Mārtiņš Šmaukstelis, who joins the Latvian National Opera as a soloist this season, as well as to Laura Lolita Perešivana – Latvian-Ukrainian soprano and this year’s graduate of the Accademia Teatro alla Scala.

The concert will be hosted by Alise Prudāne, Principal Dancer of the Latvian National Ballet, and opera soloist Edgars Ošleja.