Instead of a holiday in Latvia, six children attended a masterclass with Liana Tretiakova. One girl came all the way from China.

In the Latvian spa town Jurmala, in the old picturesque hotel Pegasa Pils, three students from Switzerland, two from Latvia and one from China spent an intensive week with Liana Tretiakova. The students practiced a broad variety of programs and styles, each of them received one class a day. At the end of the week, which was originally planned as a holiday, they gave a concert. Ilva Eigus played the Cinderella pieces by Prokovief and Sophie Branson the Italian Suite by Stravinsky. Sophie’s brother Benjamin presented Vivaldi’s Sonata in E-Minor which he is also rehearsing for the Swiss Youth Music Competition.

The marvel of the course, though, was nine year old Renée Tu from Beijing. She had already attended our master class in Menton in August 2017 and there had to relearn her technique from scratch. For half a year Liana Tretiakova then worked with the Chinese girl via Skype (!). At the concert in Jurmala Renée performed brilliantly the 1st Violin Concerto by Jean-Baptiste Accolay, together with Latvian pianist Elina Gaide.