Zuzeum Art Museum invites you to a special evening inspired by the exhibition Collections.

📅 Saturday, 25 April, 18:30
📍Great Exhibition Hall 
🎟 Tickets are available at Zuzeum ticket desk and www.zuzeum.com

Created by curator Edd Schouten and scenographer Andris Kaļiņins, Collections approaches the exhibition as an extension of artistic thinking, bringing works together through intuition, association, and spatial dialogue.

An ongoing aspect of Schouten’s curatorial practice is the creation of crossovers between artistic disciplines, including music, as a way to extend the ideas and concepts within an exhibition. As artistic director of TUR, he has developed the Artist Talk Concert, in which musicians create programmes in dialogue with a specific exhibition. American pianist and composer Robert Fleitz is one of the key artists within this series, and this ongoing collaboration now extends to Zuzeum, where Fleitz presents a musical response to Collections.

Robert Fleitz says: “When I visited Collections, I was impressed by the diversity of the exhibit, as well as its specificity. At some moments I found myself wandering the exhibition hall, letting momentary shades of each wall instigate unexpected inner feelings. In other moments, I was completely entranced by a single artwork, paying attention to the smallest details. As I spent more time in the exhibit, the works began to communicate with each other; suddenly a work I had seen before took on a completely new meaning.

In preparing for this concert, I decided to explore my own ‘collections’ as a pianist: the works which have been stored in the archives of my repertoire, and which I haven’t had the chance to play in some time. Some of these are canonic works, some of them are works that were written specifically for me. I curated freely, searching for connections between pieces that might otherwise never be heard side-by-side. At the same time, every musical work is connected to a specific artwork on the walls of the exhibition.” 

Just like the exhibition, the composers of each individual piece won’t be revealed until the end of the concert, allowing the listener to make intuitive associations and to find their own path through the music.

The program will contain works by Sibelius, Grieg, Bach, Debussy, Mediņš, Eller, Ernests Circenis, Julia Perry, Victoria Poleva, Ross Griffey, Kimia Koochakzadeh-Yazdi, Yoko Shimomura, Robert Savage, and Stephen Webb.

About Robert Fleitz

Robert Fleitz is an American pianist and composer known for imaginative and communicative performances in which classical repertoire is interwoven with new music and interdisciplinary artistic formats. He made his debut at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall in 2021 and has performed in 25 U.S. states and 17 countries. Fleitz’s professional connection with Latvia is multifaceted: he studied at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music, his album The Silent Voice was released by the Latvian record label SKANI, and in Riga he has collaborated with TUR space on several occasions, creating concerts and other projects in dialogue with exhibitions. He is currently pursuing a doctorate in music at the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki.

Practical information

The concert begins at 18:30 and will take place in two parts. Seating is unnumbered.

We encourage visitors to arrive early to choose the most comfortable place before the performance. The venue is accessible to wheelchair users, including those accompanied by an assistant, as well as visitors with strollers. 

Ticket prices 

Ticket price includes admission to the exhibition. Purchased tickets cannot be exchanged or refunded. 

  • EUR 18
  • EUR 15 for school pupils, students, seniors, and persons with a Group III disability (upon presentation of a valid ID)
  • Free admission for children up to and including 6 years of age, and for persons with a Group I or II disability

Special thanks to the Embassy of Finland in Riga and Piano Showroom @152 for its support in making this concert possible. 

By attending the event, visitors agree that photos or videos may be taken for Zuzeum marketing purposes; anyone who prefers not to be photographed or filmed may inform the photographer or cameraperson on site.