"I want to nourish the soul," said Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks, whose birthday the Munich Radio Orchestra is celebrating with works as diverse as a mass and the violin concerto "Distant Light." These works shed light on Vasks's thinking—the coexistence of nature and humanity, the sense of beauty, and the impending moral destruction of the world. His themes are rooted in his upbringing, having grown up in a country that was able to cast off its shackles nonviolently in a "Singing Revolution."

Peteris Vasks

Sacred Heart Church Munich

Voces Intimae – literally “inner voices” – is a programme where strings speak the language of the soul. Since the early Romantic era, composers have considered the string quartet the ideal medium for their most personal confessions. Beethoven, for example, composed his Eleventh String Quartet during a time of unrequited love and increasing deafness. The result is a deeply introspective and expressive work. Samuel Barber, decades later, rose to fame with his heartbreaking Adagio for Strings, originally the slow movement of his own quartet – now a timeless 20th-century classic.

Voces Intimae

Cinema Walburg

This tip is on the house: You can't eat sugar with sugar in the morning, then drink sugar and think that was breakfast. No, no, dear audience, be sensible. But whoever says caution...

FATE

Mannheimer Rosengarten

Guest Concert

Fruit Hall

Discover the soul of Hungarian folklore with Gergely Madaras at the helm, presenting a captivating concert featuring the legendary figure of Háry János, a national hero who inspired Zoltán Kodály's most famous opera in 1926. This event, part of the "Chez Gergely" series, showcases a suite that encapsulates popular folk melodies where the whimsical hero boasts of battling Napoleon, taming a hellish horse, and conquering a seven-headed dragon. Alongside, experience the profound darkness and beauty of Béla Bartók's final Concerto, an unfinished masterpiece brought to life by the exceptional British violist Timothy Ridout, hailed as the best of his generation by Le Monde. The concert also features the Concerto for English horn by Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks, a piece that weaves elegiac moods with folk rhythms, performed by Jeroen Baerts, the first soloist of the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège (OPRL).

Event Details:
- Date: Saturday, 8th March 2025
- Time: 16:00
- Duration: Approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes
- Location: Liège, Salle Philharmonique
- Ticket Prices: €38 / €23 / €11
- Program: VASKS, Concerto for English horn; BARTÓK, Concerto for viola; KODÁLY, Háry János Suite
- Performers: Jeroen Baerts (oboe, English horn), Timothy Ridout (viola), and the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, conducted by Gergely Madaras

This symphonic genre event promises an unforgettable journey through the heart of Hungarian musical heritage, under the guidance of Gergely Madaras. Reserve your tickets now for an immersive experience of folklore, heroism, and the sublime beauty of classical music.

Kodály, Háry János

Philharmonic Hall of Liege

EMF Kaleidoscope is a showcase of this summer’s Young Artists. Please join us at three free, open to the public events and our ticketed Pay-What-You-Can EMF 2024 Orchestral Fellows Recital.

Kaleidoscope

Guilford College

The last chamber music concert opens with a unique work by a Latvian composer who is one of the best-known musicians in the Baltic States. Peteris Vasks’s Quartet for Violin, Viola, Cello and Piano is an original composition that requires precision and proper interaction between the individual performers. The second part of the concert will bring Ludwig van Beethoven’s Septet in E flat major, Op. 20, performed by soloists from the Prague Philharmonia, including its former member, the double bassist Adam Honzírek.

Peteris Vasks

Events

Upcoming events

Jun 1, 2026

Vasks. Beethoven · Prague Philharmonia

Past events

Apr 17, 2026

Peteris Vasks · Münchner Rundfunkorchester

Oct 31, 2025

Voces Intimae · Casco Phil

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