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The Latvian Radio Choir, coupled with the Sinfonietta Rīga Orchestra under the conductor Sigvards Kļava give an ethereal rendition of four contemporary Latvian composers in Riga Cathedral.

It takes artistic invention and considerable courage to design a concert programme solely around tragic topics; yet the connecting link between the various items on the last subscription concert by the Australian Chamber Orchestra was – directly or indirectly – death and great composers’ reaction to it. The key of C minor invariably carries sombre overtones in the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Alina Ibragimova with the Scottish Ensemble perform exuberant early teenage Mendelssohn, deeply spiritual Pärt and Vasks, politically lethal Hartmann and utterly thrilling Bach.

A Child Of Our Time brought this year's Auckland Arts Festival to a magnificent finish with its message as universal as it was when first composed.