Ben, Ojars ,Laura M and I all attended the Talsi Music Festival last night. We first visited the Talsi Art Museum for two exhibition openings and then climbed the hill to this beautiful grove of trees where the festival takes place. As the photo shows, many people were happy to find a spot to put down a blanket and enjoy several hours of music which ranged from traditional Latvia folk songs to a string quartet playing a piece by Estonian composer Arvo Paart. There was plenty of hard string pickin’, some avant garde music and lots of singing. The evening is never over until a great Latvian choir sings. Last night, the choir started singing behind the stage and slowly walked into the crowd as their song grew in volume. It was a wonderful moment, which I tried to capture in the photo above.
The evening wrapped up with the choir, many of the musicians and these two pipers playing and singing some traditional songs. Stirring! Ben was able to get a video that he took on his Facebook page and put several links to the festival on his blog. benbillingsleyart.weebly.com Check it Out.
Ben, Ojars and Laura apparently thought that I was pretty amusing, perhaps because I stood up for the whole concert. It was a nice break from symposium work and intensive planning. Today we relaxed a bit and tomorrow starts a new day of working on ART!