The first Piano Day in Ventspils, which was to be celebrated two years ago, was not held due to the reasons we already know. It could not be held also last year. So, we have high hopes of finally celebrating the 88^th Piano Day in March, holding amazing, yet so different concerts by two outstanding world-renowned pianists, which will allow the audience to enjoy the distinct sound of the instrument and see the personality of each pianist as an author and interpreter of music.

The first part of the concert will feature compositions by the American pianist Robert Fleitz, described as an "innovative musical thinker" (New York Concert Review), who created the programme to be performed in Ventspils exactly this way. Performed by Robert, the programme will be an unusual encounter with Pēteris Vasks and Krists Auznieks. Also, it will consist of piano compositions by Molly Joyce and Julia Perry, which have not yet been performed in Latvia.  

First taught piano at age 4 by his father, Robert received degrees from The Juilliard School (B.M. & M.M.) as a piano student of Hung-Kuan Chen and Julian Martin. Robert still has professional ties with his father Patrick Fleitz - they are both curators and founders of the Swan City Piano Festival, an ongoing multi-genre celebration of pianists and piano repertoire in his hometown of Lakeland, Florida. He spends majority of his time between New York City and Riga, where he is pursuing further studies at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music with Juris Žvikovs. However, once in a while, he returns home to give concerts and to participate in other creative projects. Not so long ago, in October 2021, he made his debut in Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall, New York. Robert's compositions often explore themes like queer ecology, the occult possibilities of technology, and spontaneous human goodness. He appreciates every opportunity to collaborate with other musicians and ensembles in creating new compositions. His recent commissions include the Metropolis Ensemble, Hilary Easton Dance Company (NYC), and Twenty Fingers Duo (Lithuania).

John Kameel Farah is already known to the audience in Latvia, including Ventspils. Following the opening of the Concert Hall "Latvija" in the summer of 2019, the musician and his colleagues gave an unforgettable concert, performing not only the "Six Pianos" - a piece for six pianos by the composer Steve Reich, but also his original compositions. At the Piano Day concert, John Kameel is going to take the audience on a captivating journey to his own world of sounds. Restless, yet surprising, unprecedent, and completely different from compositions by other musicians, his work embraces aspects of Baroque and early music, Middle Eastern music, lots of free improvisation, and forms of electronic music. In his performance, described by the musician himself as "Middle-Eastern-Baroque-Cyberpunk" modes, he moves freely between the different instruments with surprising ease and dexterity, creating and disrupting amazing soundscapes.

Born in Brampton, Ontario, the Canadian artist studied composition and piano performance at the University of Toronto, where he received the Glenn Gould Composition Award twice during his studies. After the studies, John Kameel went to the West Coast of the US, where he had private lessons with the composer Terry Riley in California, and later at the Arabic Music Retreat in Hartford, which temporarily became his refuge, residence, and place of inspiration. He is currently based in Berlin, and his records are released by the prominent label "Neue Meister". Between his solo concerts in European concert halls, he also performs at underground clubs (!) John Kameel, in collaboration with his colleagues, refreshes the Reich's "Six Pianos". Before welcoming the artist once again in Ventspils, let us recall 1 August 2019, as the musician performed his original compositions at the Concert Hall "Latvija", after which Pauls Bankovskis wrote in the online magazine "Satori" the following:

"I found the performance by John Kameel Farah particularly interesting - one composition involving hints of Middle Eastern modes and the other one that resembles a declaration of love to Bach. Or perhaps the Goldberg Variations recorded by Glenn Gould's with him humming in the background." 

Looking back at the performances by all six pianists, in another concert review Edgars Mākens added:

"[..] The most interesting of all, the John Kameel Farah's "Introitus", combines the Baroque polyphony with the harmony of Gesualdo's music, while preserving a contemporary, bold, and expressive pattern, at times intertwined with the Phrygian Middle Eastern modes and culminating in Lizst-like extensive passages within the entire range of piano."   

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