Latvian Maestro Raimonds Pauls released a concert single performed by Estonian singer Sofia Rubina

The legendary Latvian composer Raimonds Pauls just released a new concert single performed by Estonian singer Sofia Rubina. The ballad Life in Black and White was performed for the first and only time in an online concert in January, but it will be heard for the first time live on September 16 at VEF Culture Palace in Riga, when several new songs will be played in a special love song program dedicated to Maestro's 85th anniversary.

 

The new ballad is based on the composition Old Cinema of the instrumental jazz record Walk around Riga released last year. The lyrics in English for this and several other new songs were written by the American author Gordon Pogoda. In the song, Sofia Rubina sings about black-and-white cinema and black-and-white photographs that preserve the past and the memory of people, but deep down in the heart the memories are still colorful… “I really like to perform with Maestro, because I feel that every note he plays – he feels and means it, it’s like conversation through melody,” says Sofia Rubina.

 

Estonian jazz singer Sofia Rubina studied at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in the USA. In over 20 years of singing career she released five albums and over 20 singles. Sofia’s jazz album In the Land of Oo-Bla-Dee released 2016 won the best jazz album prize at Estonian Music Awards.

 

In the new concert single, another well-known Estonian artist performs his solo part – double bassist Toivo Unt, who has also collaborated with Maestro on the albums Crossroads with the Liepaja Symphony Orchestra and Bach Kamēr Pauls with the Riga Youth Choir Kamēr…. “Working with Pauls is a great pleasure, his sound is unique, and he has a unique sense of melody,” says Toivo Unt.

 

On September 16, Maestro songs at VEF Culture Palace will be performed not only by Sofia Rubina but also by singing actress of Mikhail Chekhov’s Riga Russian Theater Veronika Plotnikova, and singer Dināra Rudāne in Russian and Latvian, respectively. Listeners will have the opportunity to enjoy songs with the words of the colorful Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko, as well as the legendary Latvian poets Jānis Peters and Imants Ziedonis. The concert atmosphere will also be enriched by the excellent chamber orchestra Kremerata Lettonica and VCP wind group.

 

The concert starts on September 16 at VEF Culture Palace at 7 PM, tickets can be purchased at aula.lv.