Riga Jurmala Festival forms new Mariss Jansons Festival Orchestra
Lucy Thraves
Friday, July 2, 2021
Musicians from orchestras across Europe will come together to honour Latvian conductor Mariss Jansons
Franz Johann Morgenbesser
At this year's Riga Jurmala Music Festival, musicians from the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Concertgebouworkest, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra will come together to honour Latvian conductor Mariss Jansons, who died in 2019.
The new orchestra will debut at the open weekend of the Festival (16-18 July), under the director of John Eliot Gardiner, and in lieu of the previously announced Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, which withdrew due to Covid-related circumstances.
Jansons's spouse, Irina Jansons, said: 'Mariss loved all the musicians in his orchestras and the musicians loved him. And I think this mutual emotional bond could also be felt by the audience in the performances. He was a great admirer of Claudio Abbado and his Festival Orchestra; somehow Mariss had always wished for something similar. It means a lot to me that this wish is now being granted to him.'
Martin T: son Engstroem, artistic director of the Riga Jurmala Music Festival, said: 'Any last-minute cancellation tasks a festival, but when it is one of Europe’s leading orchestras, you do not have many options. We understand and regret the cancellation of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and look forward to welcoming them back to a future edition of the festival.
'The way their musicians selflessly rose to the challenge of initiating this new and exciting ensemble in such a short period of time left us in awe; we are so happy to have collaborated with them in the creation of it. Their colleagues in their own and in the five other orchestras answered their appeal very quickly, even though many of them had to disrupt vacation plans. We are extremely grateful and look forward to applauding their achievement in just a few weeks.'
The festival has also commissioned a documentary dedicated to honouring Jansons, due to be broadcast in early 2022. Jansons’ story will be told through the eyes of the musicians from the four ensembles for which he was either music director or chief conductor: the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Concertgebouworkest and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.
A short video previewing the documentary can be viewed here.
