Being almost at a standstill for two and a half years of the covid pandemic, Latvian amateur art collectives tried with all their might not to disappear. There was serious reason to worry about the future of the Song and Dance Festival tradition. In the end, the students’ Song Festival was first postponed, but a year later it was allowed to take place only remotely in e-format, and only last spring the long-awaited moment finally came when the restrictions on the work of amateur collectives were lifted: both the ban on gatherings and mandatory distances, wearing masks and covid certificates.
The Covid-19 has, of course, cut a hole, but amateur art has recovered and now there is no doubt that the 150th anniversary of the General Latvian Song and Dance Festival will be celebrated magnificently this summer. We are only beginning to get a sense of the quality and quantity of the offer, but we can already celebrate the miracle of the return.
CHORUS FOR BALANCE
Last November, we were surprised by the news that the artistic director of the State Academic Choir, one of the leaders of the world’s professional choral art, Māris Sirmais (53), who once created and raised the youth choir to legendary heights While…, has become the leader of an ordinary Ikšķile amateur choir. It happened without loud publicity, only a message was posted on social networks that the mixed choir of Sirmais and Ikšķile Town Hall, Ikšķile, is inviting new members. Already in December (!) the choir sang the first concert in its renewed composition and is currently actively preparing for the rehearsal of the repertoire of the Song Festival, which will take place in April.
Read the entire conversation in the magazine On Saturday In the issue of March 10 – 16! If you want to continue reading the contents of the magazine in printed format, you can subscribe to it HERE!