On November 9 at the Cēsis Vidzeme Concert Hall in Latvia, Kristine Opolais, baritone Egils Siliņš, and tenor Mikhail Chulpajev come together with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra to commemorate the actor and stage director, Andrejs Žagars. Mr. Žagars was the General Director of the Latvian National Opera from 1996 to 2013 and was a monumental figure in Ms. Opolais’ early career; she credits her time with the company for the development of her stagecraft, especially her work with Mr. Žagars.

“My greatest teacher from whom I learned what to do on stage was Latvian opera director and actor Andrejs Žagars,” she says. “For each new production with him, he worked with me a lot as an actress” and “I feel as if I am an actress who can sing on stage, rather than a singer who can act.” (CS Music)

For the concert, Mārtiņš Ozoliņš conducts the LNSO. The program will include arias and works by Wagner, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Puccini, Bizet, Giordano, among others. Please enjoy this video of Kristine Opolais in Andrejs Žagars’ production of Eugene Onegin singing “Tatyana’s Letter Scene”: