Bauska to Host Free Opera Music Concert “Autumn Story”

The Bauska Music and Art School will hold an opera music concert titled “Autumn Story” on Wednesday, 14 October, at 18:00 in the school's concert hall at 5 Upmalas Street in Bauska, Latvia. The event belongs to the “Born in Bauska” concert series, which focuses on people who gained their first musical experience in Bauska and now carry the town's name further with their talent. Admission is free.

School director Anita Velmunska told the local news portal that the programme will combine works by world-famous composers with music by Latvian authors. Pieces by Gioachino Rossini, Georges Bizet, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Jacques Offenbach and Gaetano Donizetti will be performed, along with works by Jāzeps Mediņš, Alfrēds Kalniņš and Tālivaldis Ķeniņš.

Performers

The concert will feature artists recognised in Latvia: mezzo-soprano Tatjana Kalniņa, sopranos Tīna Trenča and Rute Čirkše, baritone Kalvis Kalniņš, and concertmaster Kaspars Bumbišs. The programme includes arias and duets accompanied by piano. The organisers describe it as a musical story about talent, roots, growth and return.

A special place in the evening is given to Tatjana Kalniņa, a graduate of the Bauska Music School. She continued her professional education at the Jāzeps Mediņš Riga Music Secondary School and the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music, and later worked at the Latvian National Opera. Velmunska says the singer's return to Bauska shows that the road to major stages in Latvia and abroad can begin in this very town.

The school director invites visitors to pause from the everyday rush on an autumn evening and let themselves be carried by music that, in her words, warms and moves the listener.