Christmas Concert of Stars at Paliesius Manor

As the year’s grandest holidays approach and festive joy continues to swell, we invite you to warm your soul even further at a stellar Christmas concert here at Paliesius Manor! And indeed, a magnificent array of stars will grace the stage of our Pasaga Concert Hall: Grammy-nominated pianist Andrius Žlabys, legendary violinist Gidon Kremer, Latvian violinist and international competition laureate Madara Pētersone, Latvian violist Katrīna Anna Peļņena, who performs alongside a vast array of orchestras and musicians, multi-award-winning Canadian cellist Luka Coetzee, and the acclaimed Ukrainian-born double bassist Iurii Gavryliuk. Do not miss it!

Andrius Žlabys is a Grammy-nominated pianist. He has earned international acclaim for his performances with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the Boston, Cleveland, and Rotterdam Symphony Orchestras, and the Buenos Aires Philharmonic.

Born in Lithuania and educated at the Curtis Institute of Music, the pianist was just 18 years old when the Chicago Tribune declared that “pianist and composer Andrius Žlabys is one of the most gifted young keyboard artists to emerge in years.” He was also praised in a review by The New York Sun as “a shining hope of pianists” following his recital at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Gidon Kremer has received numerous prestigious awards: prizes at the 1967 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels and the 1969 Montreal International Musical Competition, as well as first prizes at the 1969 Paganini and 1970 Tchaikovsky International Competitions. Over the past five decades, he has earned a worldwide reputation as one of the most original and compelling artists of his generation. The violinist has performed in nearly every major concert hall as a recitalist and with the most celebrated orchestras of Europe and North America, collaborating with many of the most eminent conductors of the past half-century.

His repertoire is unusually extensive and diverse, encompassing the Classical and Romantic periods alongside the works of 20th- and 21st-century composers. It is fair to say that today there is no other soloist of such high international stature who has done as much to promote the works of modern and contemporary composers for the violin. Gidon Kremer is also an exceptionally prolific recording artist who has released over 120 albums, many of which have received prestigious awards. In 2016, he was awarded the Praemium Imperiale, widely considered the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in the music world.

Latvian violinist Madara Pētersone, who graduated from the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music in 2013, is a laureate of several Latvian and international competitions. In 2011, she won first prize at the academy’s 19th competition for Best Student Ensemble. She has performed with numerous acclaimed artists and ensembles, such as Reinis Zariņš and the Vidzeme Chamber Orchestra, and has also played solo in a Euroradio concert for the European Day of Young Musicians, the Berlin International Literature Festival, and more.

Katrīna Anna Peļņena was born in Riga, Latvia, and fell in love with the viola at the age of five. She began her musical journey at the Emīls Dārziņš Music School, continued her studies at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music, and is currently pursuing her master’s degree. From 2019 to 2022, the violist played with the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra before joining the international chamber orchestra Kremerata Baltica, with whom she has toured throughout Europe and Asia. In 2023, she became a permanent violist with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. She has collaborated with many musicians and participated in various festivals and masterclasses. She currently plays a Felice Guadagnini 1865 viola, on loan from the Finnish Cultural Foundation.

Since her professional debut at just 11 years old, Canadian cellist Luka Coetzee has appeared as a soloist with orchestras across the globe and earned numerous accolades, including first prize at the prestigious 7th International Paulo Cello Competition in 2023, first prize at the 2022 Pablo Casals International Award, and first prize at the 2022 Johansen International Competition in Washington, D.C. As a member of the Echo Klassik-nominated LGT Young Soloists, the musician has performed in halls worldwide and recorded a critically acclaimed arrangement of Beethoven’s Cello Sonata in A major for cello and strings with the LGTYS, which reached number one on the Apple Music Classical Video Charts in over 40 countries. The cellist plays a Giuseppe Guarneri “filius Andrea” cello, crafted around 1712–1715, alongside a bow crafted by François Nicolas Voirin, provided to her by Canimex Inc.

Ukrainian-born double bassist Iurii Gavryliuk is a multi-prize-winning artist who has performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and other ensembles. In 2016, he took part in the Chamber Music Connects the World festival in Kronberg, Germany.