LNSO
Since the season of 2013-2014 Andris Poga serves as music director of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra. Since then he has expanded the repertoire of the LNSO as well as taken the orchestra abroad and after a longer period of silence is making new recordings with the orchestra.
Under Pogas’ baton the LNSO has a bigger emphasis on performing the symphonies of Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich as well as the symphonic music by Richard Strauss and also particular focus on Latvian composers including Jānis Ivanovs, the great Latvian symphonist of the 20th century and Pēteris Vasks among others. On top of that, the orchestra is regularly commissioning and performing many new works as well.
A new regular concert series has been developed for the teenage audience and it takes place four times during every season. Each event includes a presentation of a well-known symphonic hit with explaining and then performing it. It comes as a new initiative in addition to the orchestra's already existing education program and its aim is to expand and encourage our future audience.
Another new idea Andris Poga has developed together with the orchestra is the annual festival LNSO Summerhouse. It takes place during the last week of August in one of the newly built regional concert halls all around Latvia. Usually, those are programs that are uncommon for the rest of the season and include both symphonic concerts, and different programs and musical activities for the young audience.
Since the first appearance of the Baltic Symphonic Festival in 2016 in all three capitals of the Baltic States, the LNSO has been an active participant of it developing the festival as an annual musical event.
LNSO with Andris Poga has expanded its international touring, and since 2015 orchestra has been regularly invited to prestigious concert halls and festivals in France - Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, Arsenal in Metz and Grand Théâtre de Provence in Aix-en-Provence among others. In February 2017 LNSO participated at La Folle Journée festival in Nantes and later that year also at the famous La Roque d'Antheron festival. Celebrating the 100th anniversary of Latvia, in 2018 LNSO with Andris went on tour to Germany, France and Switzerland including a concert at the Philharmonie de Paris. They also appeared for the first time at the prestigious Bratislava Music Festival.
Andris Poga and the LNSO have recorded an album with the music of Rachmaninoff under the Odradek label and two albums under the local Skani label with symphonies of Jānis Ivanovs and music of other Latvian composers.
