LNSO Projects for Children and the Youth

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One of the LNSO’s priorities is the growth and education of future generations. For many years, the LNSO has been offering educational programmes, inviting children and young people of all ages to get to know the world of symphonic music.

Our goal is to break the stereotype that listening to classical music is a tedious, high-brown pastime for middle-age intellectuals, and to make classical music accessible and exciting for everyone. Even more – we want to achieve that visiting LNSO concerts becomes a favourite pastime among young people, too.

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For Children: LeNeSOn and Musical Productions 

LeNeSON

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The Latvian National Symphony Orchestra (LNSO) has created the LeNeSOn concert series to introduce children with classical music and educate them about it. Each series consists of four educational concert productions per season for pre-schoolers and young schoolchildre. The repertoire is suitable for a children’s audience and the programme is supplemented by a storyline and content. The concert series for children is the LNSO’s tradition for already a decade, sparking interest in classical music, musical instruments, and hit compositions by composers of different nations and eras for the youngest listeners, as well as the adults accompanying them.

LeNeSOn, the central character of the concert productions, has become the mascot of LNSO’s children’s concerts over the years. LeNeSOn participates in the concerts, helping to discover the orchestra’s secrets through real-life examples, sometimes funny, sometimes serious. Addtionally, the young audience are taught and educated about proper behaviour in classical music concerts. Breaks between the concert parts are dedicated to children’s creative expression: learning about musical instruments, playing games, and engaging in other activities.

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Andris Vecumnieks is the music director and conductor of the concert series since the LeNeSOn’s inception.
For the second seaon, the dramatist and director of LeNeSOn productions is Andris Kalnozols.
LeNeSOn is impersonated by actors Valdis Vanags and Aleksejs Geiko.

LeNeSOn concert series take place in the Latvian and Russian language.
A seasonal pass is available for each LeNeSOn concert series. The pass can be purchased until the first concert of the season. For more information, click here.

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Musical Productions for Children

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Exciting musical productions are created for a children’s audience every season. Among them is the co-production of composer Edgars Mākēns and director Edgars Šolis – production The Wind in the Willows. The production is best suited for pre-schoolers and younger school-age children.

The production is based on Kenneth Grahame’s well-known work The Wind in the Willows with the peace-loving Mole, the Rat who prefers an idle life on the river, the spoiled, rich Toad, and sensible hermit Badger. The animals’ adventures are recounted by stage masters with great experience in developing children’s productions, and the lively musical score is performed by the LNSO Willow Ensemble, adorned with ferret ears.

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Artist Reinis Pētersons, actors Mārtiņš Brūveris and Valdis Vanags, production leader Guntis Kuzma.

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The second musical production in the LNSO’s repertoire is Jānis Šipkēvics’ fresh song cycle Zenith, a musical production for school-age children. In the production, Jānis and his former classmate and lyricist Marts Pujāts recount their school-year experience in an intuitive and emotional way. Two boys recount, in song, the Riga Dome Choir School of the 1990s: the classrooms, passages, elevator rides, dictation writing, playing Super Mario, and dreams of a pair of new sneakers.

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Jānis Šipkēvics’ evocative music and Marts Pujāts’ witty verse awakens our inner child who lives until the end of our lives. The production will put a smile on your face, inspire honest delight and create a sense of exciting adventure.

Jānis Šipkēvics: “In a peculiar psychology session, compositions of various genres will reconnect us with the magical era of our school years. The music is written as if for an imaginary orchestra, by a child who wants to understand what goes on around him and infuse it all with meaning – playful, existential, funny, moving, transcendental and ordinary in a boyish way.”

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Director Viesturs Meikšāns, set and costume designer Rūta Briede. Performers: Riga Dome Choir School students and the LNSO Zenith Ensemble, leader Guntis Kuzma.

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The programme is supported by the State Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia initiative Latvian School Bag.

Musical production Zenith is nominated for Latvia’s Kilogram of Culture award in the category Surprise in Culture.

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