On December 12, 8 p.m. Jēkabs Jančevskis’ chamber music concert BO-TAN-ICS will take place, broadcast online from the National Botanic Garden of Latvia, where, for a single night, the exotic greenhouse will become a concert hall. The concert will feature musicians known in Latvia and across the globe ‒ Agnese Egliņa, Katrīna Paula Felsberga, Guntis Kuzma, Ernests Mediņš, Konstantīns Paturskis, Egija Sproģe, Pēteris Trasuns, Egils Upatnieks, Dace Zālīte-Zilberte, as well as the composer himself. The concert will be conducted by Jurģis Cābulis, and there’ll be poetry readings by Marta Lovisa Jančevska.
The Kultūras Perons Association has prepared an unusual surprise to music lovers, namely the chance to enjoy an online concert featuring chamber music by composer Jēkabs Jančevskis, resplendent of nature-inspired emotion and ambience, and become the owner of a choice house plant that had the opportunity to be present during the live performance. There are only 100 tickets on sale, and the holders thereof will have the privilege to hear the premiere of the BO-TAN-ICS concert online on December 12 and, after, to become a proud owner of one of the plants from the greenhouse. There is a one-on-one correspondence between the number of tickets and plants available. Ticket holders will have from December 13 up to January 15 to visit the National Botanic Garden and select a specimen from the available house plants that had comprised the audience on the eve of December 12. Upon producing a ticket, the owner will likewise receive a ticket to the National Botanic Garden, valid until Januar 15, 2022. Whereas the recording of the concert will be available free of charge to everyone from December 13 to December 31.
Tickets to the concert premiere are available at https://www.bezrindas.lv/lv/bo-ta-ni-ka-komponista-jekaba-jancevska-kamermuzikas-tiessaistes-koncerts/9909/
Ticket holders can collect their plant at the entrance of the National Botanic Garden – the Tourism Information Center in Salaspils, Miera iela 1 (across the street from the train station). We suggest arranging your visit beforehand using the number +371 22 019 340.
At a time when travelling to someplace warmer is limited, there’s a chance to enjoy the summer in the middle of winter just a fifteen-minute drive away from Rīga and take home a new and luxuriously green friend from the collection of the National Botanic Garden, for example, a coffee plant, guava, banana palm, myrtle, olive tree, echeveria, gasteria, agave, blood lily, cactus etc. Composer Jēkabs Jančevskis has this to say about the unusual event: “I am immensely glad that during this turbulent time I’ll have the chance to experience my second solo show. As opposed to choral and orchestral music, which are decisively dominant in my creative output, my chamber music works have always remained on the sidelines. But they exist! And, to my surprise, there are a lot of them. This music encompasses a period of ten years – from my years of study at the academy, and the solo songs I wrote back then, to very fresh and only recently premiered music. I have often felt the vocation in my works to talk about the trees, which I think are as alive as we are. They breathe, they feel and they move. They help us regain strength when we’re depleted. Naturally enough, the concert will take place with an audience of a couple hundred trees! At that, surrounded not just by trees, as there are also shrubs, azaleas, herbaceous plants, cacti and other living beings. Just nature and music. Vincent van Gogh once said that if somebody really loves nature they can see beauty in everything. With these parting words, I offer Botānika, a concert of my chamber music.”
The idea for the event was authored by its producers, the Kultūras Perons Association: “The event location was picked for its symbolic value, as the greenhouse of the National Botanical Garden is the home for exotic plants. Through the concert idea and the way it’s organized we will highlight the unique capabilities of the plants and highlight the parallels with the current situation in the world, when staying at home is a matter of survival. We encourage you to think about the current similarities between the life of plants and human beings, i.e. staying at home and staying put. We are, in a way, romanticizing this connection. We are inspired to create events that allow looking at everyday things from a different vantage point. For two years now, life has been out of the ordinary and constrained in different ways. We responded to the Kultūrelpa program of the State Culture Foundation and its goal of creating an event that can be held despite all and any limitations before the end of the year 2021. We found a way of continuing to inspire people, offering an adventure instead of the traditional concert format. Every era has its own unique individuals and currents of ideas and events, and discovering and getting to know them is something beautiful!”
Due to the restrictions in place across the country, it is possible to visit the National Botanical Garden and receive the plant with a Covid-19 certificate that testifies to being vaccinated against or having recovered from the virus. One has to produce an identity document, either a passport or an ID card. If the ticket holder doesn’t have a working certificate, the plant may be collected by another person if they can produce a ticket. Outdoor exhibitions and the greenhouse are open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The greenhouse is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.
About the National Botanical Garden. The National Botanical Garden in Salaspils dates back to the 18th century. The entire garden takes up an area of a whopping 129 hectares, with part of the territory dedicated to scientific tree nurseries, greenhouses and experimental nurseries, whereas plant exhibitions for visitors have been set up in the remaining territory. In 2015 the new greenhouse complex was unveiled. There, visitors can access four marvelously beautiful and exotic halls: The Succulent Hall, The Warm Subtropical Hall, The Cool Subtropical Hall and The Tropical Hall.
The Kultūras Perons Association was established in 2005 with the goal of developing and preserving the cultural and natural heritage of Latvia. Throughout the years, a number of projects were carried out as part of the White Nights contemporary culture forum, such as 100.autobuss, musical events for the Latvian Centenary, as well as Māris Subačs’ mobile exhibition Laika Ģeometrija, a commemorative event for the 115th anniversary of Leonīds Vīgners and others.
Supported by the Kultūrelpa program of the State Culture Capital Foundation, The National Botanical Garden and Salaspils Tūrisms.
Produced by the Kultūras Perons Association
https://www.facebook.com/KulturasPerons
Contacts:
Gundega Turnele
The Kultūras Perons Association
Bruņinieku iela 22-1,
Rīga, LV-1011
m. + 371 26308128