River of Time. Reinis Zariņš
17 April 2026, 19:00 - Spīķeri Concert Hall (Ģenerāļa Radziņa krastmala 3, Riga)
Reinis Zariņš - piano
Program:
Pēteris Vasks, Pauls Dambis, Aleksandrs Avramecs, Andris Dzenītis, Arvo Pärt, Žibuoklė Martinaitytė, Marianna Liik, Madeleine Isaksson and Tõnu Kõrvits.
Time is not an even, uniform flow—it is a network of currents that carry us forward and backward at once, leaving traces only to erase them again, and compelling us to begin anew. In this sense, the festival motto We Live in Different Times takes on a concrete meaning: within a single concert, different generations, different tempos, and distinct experiences of time coexist.
At the heart of the programme are two new works commissioned especially for this concert, which highlight generational contrast in the most direct way. One is by Aleksandrs Avramecs, aged 26; the other by Pauls Dambis, aged 90. These compositions embody two experiences shaped by different rhythms: one speaks from the acceleration and constant change of the present, while the other emerges from a longer temporal arc in which return, scale, and memory are essential. Together, they form the central axis of the programme—the river’s flow as a dialogue between generations.
A Nordic dimension is introduced through Madeleine Isaksson’s piano work Écrits sur l’eau (“Writings on Water”), music about traces that appear only briefly before vanishing. Water becomes a metaphor for time itself: ebb and flow, endless movement, approach and withdrawal. In this piece, time is observed as a surface upon which echoes of human life briefly shimmer.
The programme also includes music by other Baltic composers, expanding the map of the river of time with multiple perspectives on contemporary experience. Through the interpretation of pianist Reinis Zariņš, the concert becomes a concentrated portrait of present-day existence—acceleration and stillness, traces and their disappearance, memory and flow united in a single, continuous stream.