Festival
RIGA OPERA FESTIVAL 2023
Riga Opera Festival, founded in 1998 as the first festival of its size and scale in Eastern Europe, it has already become a treasured tradition. The festival is highly anticipated by both Latvian audiences and opera-lovers from abroad, which form the majority of all Riga Opera Festival fans. Since 2022, the festival programme includes also ballet performances.
PROGRAMME
June 9, 19.00, opera ADRIANA LECOUVREUR by Francesco Cilea - PREMIERE!
June 11, 19.00, opera ADRIANA LECOUVREUR by Francesco Cilea
June 14, 19.00, ballet SERENADE. CARMINA BURANA
June 15, 19.00, operetta DIE LUSTIGE WITWE by Franz Lehar
June 16, 19.00, ballet VIY. THE NIGHTS OF HORROR by Olexander Rodin
June 18, 19.00, opera ADRIANA LECOUVREUR by Francesco Cilea
June 20, 19.00, RIGA OPERA FESTIVAL GALA CONCERT in Jelgava (Open-Air Concert Hall MĪTAVA)
June 21, 19.00, RIGA OPERA FESTIVAL GALA CONCERT
Tickets to the festival events are available at www.opera.lv and LNO box office (Aspazijas bulvaris 3, Riga).
opera by Francesco Cilea
Music Director and Conductor MĀRTIŅŠ OZOLIŅŠ
Stage Director VINCENT BOUSSARD
Italian composer Francesco Cilea's world-famous opera Adriana Lecouvreur in the stage version of the French Stage Director Vincent Boussard, already familiar to Latvian audiences.
Ballet with music by Peter Tschaikovsky and Karl Orff
Conductor MĀRTIŅŠ OZOLIŅŠ
SERENADE
Choreographer GEORGE BALANCHINE
Ballet Serenade by George Balanchine is considered one of the cornerstones of dance history. This visually poetic choreography was originally created for ballet students. The ballet Serenade is based on Peter Tschaikovsky’s Serenade for String Orchestra in C Major and was first performed in 1934 by students of the School of American Ballet at the estate of Felix Warburg outside of New York City. It is Mr. Balanchine’s most performed ballet, licensed to this day by schools as well as ballet companies all over the world.
CARMINA BURANA
Choreographer EDWARD CLUG
Edward Clug's contemporary choreography is based on the legendary oratorio Carmina Burana by German composer Carl Orff (1895-1982), which illustrates the twists and turns of human life subject to the whims of fate. The cantata uses a medieval collection of poetry found in a Bavarian monastery, which deals with various themes: the impermanence of success and wealth, the fleeting nature of life, the coming of spring, and the pleasures and miseries of drink and lust. The central symbol of the oratorio, the wheel of fate, turns, transforming joy into bitterness and hope into mourning. The main visual element in Edward Clug’s choreography is the circle – the simplest and at the same time the most complete natural form. Carmina Burana premiered at Les Grands Ballets Canadiens in Montreal in October 2019. The LNO orchestra, choir and soloists also take part in this grand production by the Latvian National Ballet.
operetta by Franz Lehar
Music Director and Conductor THOMAS RöSNER
Conductor KASPARS ĀDAMSONS
Stage Director UWE ERIC LAUFENBERG
Hanna’s inheritance of 200 million after the death of her husband, a Pontevedrian banker, makes her a desirable catch among the cavaliers in Paris. If only the Pontevedro ambassador, Baron Zeta, could find a wealthy, compatriot groom for the rich woman (and keep Hanna's wealth in the country), he could save the country from insolvency. The hopes are pinned on the charming heartbreaker Count Danilo. Although he and Hanna share a romantic past, the Count is afraid of being seen as a bounty hunter and is not ready to confess his feelings. Franz Lehár’s glorious melodies whirl with intrigue and passion, but after a series of comic misunderstandings, the ending is happy.
ballet by Olexander Rodin
Choreographer RADU POKLITARU
Music Director and Conductor KASPARAS ĀDAMSONS
The ballet Viy. The Nights of Horror by the choreographer Radu Poklitaru with the music of Olexander Rodin, based on the motifs of Nikolai Gogol's story Viy, tells about the student Homa Brut’s encounter with dark forces. In the ballet, all the characters have kept their names, but it is not an illustration to all known story. Performances, directed by Radu Poklitaru, are always creative rethinking of the place of action, the proposed circumstances and actions of the heroes.
RIGA OPERA FESTIVAL GALA CONCERT 
IN JELGAVA
Music Director and Conductor MĀRTIŅŠ OZOLIŅŠ
Continuing the tradition started in 2022, one of the Riga Opera Festival Gala Concerts will take place at the open-air concert hall Mītava in Jelgava. Beautiful melodies of Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Gaetano Donizetti and other composers at the concert will be interpreted by the soloists of the Latvian National opera - Dana Bramane, Inga Šļubovska, Jūlija Vasiļjeva, Dainis Kalnačs, Andris Ludvigs, Artjoms Safronovs, Jānis Apeinis, Murat Nakeuri as well as the Latvian National Opera Orchestra under the baton of Mārtiņš Ozoliņš. Stage Director of the concert is Elita Bukovska.
RIGA OPERA FESTIVAL GALA CONCERT at the Latvian National Opera
Music Director and Conductor MĀRTIŅŠ OZOLIŅŠ
As always, the Riga Opera Festival offers audiences the opportunity to hear both beloved local soloists and visiting international stars, as well as enjoy the most beautiful opera melodies at the Gala Concert.
On June 21, the beautiful melodies of Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Gaetano Donizetti and other composers will be interpreted by guest soloists - the Turkish tenor Murat Karahan and Polish tenor Arnold Rutkowski, the outstanding Latvian bass-baritone Egils Siliņš and soloists of the Latvian National Opera - Inga Šļubovska, Jūlija Vasiļjeva, Dainis Kalnačs and Jānis Apeinis. The Latvian National Opera Orchestra and Chorus will be conducted by Mārtiņš Ozoliņš.