Sunday, December 14th, 7 PM

Great Guild Hall

Inga Kalna (soprano)

Diana Ketler (piano)

Program – Schubert, Richard Strauss

The new program of our famous musicians

Inga Kalna was born in Riga. She completed her voice studies at the Latvian Academy of Music and then graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she made quite an impression as La Contessa in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, with the orchestra conducted by Sir Colin Davis.

Inga Kalna has twice been awarded the Latvian Theatre Prize for excellent performances, and is one of the few artists who has been given the Great Music Award of Latvia three times in tribute to her outstanding achievements.

In Great Britain she has received the Goldberg Operatic Prize and the Bruce Miller Memorial Trust Award. In Germany, she was awarded the Wilhelm-Oberdörfer-Preis.

In 2001-2007 Inga Kalna was a soloist at the Hamburgische Staatsoper.

Additionally, the soprano sang to great praise at the Dresden Music Festival in a concert version of Johann Gottlieb Naumann's opera Cora und Alonzo conducted by Rene Jacobs. She continued this successful cooperation with Rene Jacobs singing the part of Armida in Händel's Rinaldo, with performances in Montpellier and at the Innsbruck Festival Weeks of Ancient Music. In 2007 she made her successful debut as Alcina in Opéra de Paris. Twice she has been appeared as the First Lady in Mozart’s The Magic Flute at the Salzburg festival.

Moreover they made a CD-recording, which aroused great attention. With her brilliant and exceptionally flexible voice as well as with an impressive way of performing she proved here to be one of the outstanding singers of baroque music.

In addition to her comprehensive opera repertoire, Inga Kalna has fascinated her audiences with Bach's Passion music and requiems and masses by Beethoven, Gounod, Mozart, Brahms, Verdi and Fauré.

She also has sung Vier Letzte Lieder by Richard Strauss and Mahler's 4th symphony. These productions were made under conductors such as Sir Colin Davis, Rene Jacobs, Alfred Eschwe, Ingo Metzmacher, Stefan Soltesz, Gerd Albrecht and Marc Soustrot.

The CD-recording of Händels Rinaldo directed by Rene Jacobs, Inga Kalna's role as Armida is awarded for the Opera-Recording 2003 by critics of the magazine.

“She can make us laugh or cry; her expressive palette is vast, her voice big and thrilling”.

Financial Times on Inga Kalna

Diana Ketler was born in Riga into a well-known family of musicians. She commenced her studies of music and piano at the age of five at the E Darzins specialized music school in Riga, and played her concerto debut at the age of 11 with Latvian National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Vassily Sinaisky. Diana graduated from the Latvian Academy of Music with a first class Honours degree in 1993, having studied with Theofil Bikis. From 1992 to 1994 she studied at the Mozarteum Academy in Salzburg under Karl-Heinz Kammerling. In 1994 Diana continued her studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London under Christopher Elton. She graduated in 1996, receiving the Dip RAM. In 1996/1997 and in 2000/2001 Diana was awarded the Hodgson Piano Fellowship at the Academy.

Diana has appeared as a soloist with Salzburger Kammerphilharmonie, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Sudwestdeutsches Kammerorchester, Riga Chamber Orchestra, Georgisches Kammerorchester and Latvian National Symphony Orchestra. She has performed extensively in Britain, Japan, Canada, Russia and most European countries. Her engagements have included performances at the Gstaad Musiksommer Festival , Ravello Music Festival, St Gallen Musikfestival, Carinthischer Sommer and Kobe International Art Festival. Diana has given recitals at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, Purcell Room, Glenn Gould Studios in Toronto, Tokyo Opera City Hall, Osaka Symphony Hall, Atheneum in Bucharest and other prestigious venues.

Diana has collaborated with artists such as Wolfram Christ, Konstantin Lifschitz, Daishin Kashimoto, Adrian Brendel, Baiba Skride, Remus Azoitei, Sasha Sitkovetsky, Bernhard Hedenborg, Narimichi Kawabata, Inga Kalna and Marlis Petersen. As a member of the ensemble Raro she regularly tours Europe and Japan. Diana has given a number of British and German premieres of the works by contemporary Baltic composers and collaborates closely with Peteris Vasks and Arvo Pärt.

Diana's performances have been broadcast on radio and television in Japan, Britain (BBC 3, Classic FM), Germany (Bavarian Radio), Romania, Latvia and Austria.

Since 2003 Diana has been professor of piano at the Royal Academy of Music. She has given masterclasses in Spain, Czech Republic, England, Latvia and former Yugoslavia, and has served as a jury member at the International piano Competition Jeunesses Musicales in Bucharest.

Since 2004 Diana has been artistic director of the Chiemgauer Musikfruhling Festival in Bavaria, Germany.

“A high level of pianism with an unusual musical intelligence. She will make her mark in the future”.