MUBA I SaxFest - saksofonistide Giuseppe Laterza (Itaalia) ja Oskars Petrauskise (Läti) kontsert, klaveril Elīna Bērtiņa

Giuseppe Laterza is a saxophonist, graduated at the “E.R. Duni” Conservatory in Matera under Professor Vito Soranno. Following his passion for music and saxophone Giuseppe immediately developed his talent, which kept growing over the years through his different experiences.

Shortly after his graduation, as a young musician he moved to France to study with two renown saxophonist, Professor J.Y. Fourmeau at the conservatory in Cergy Pontoise and saxophonist Professor Vincent David at the Versailles conservatory where he won the Prix de Saxophone à l'Unanimité and obtained his Postgraduate Saxophone Diploma.

At the same time he has attended numerous masterclasses with renown saxophonists such as Claude Delangle, J.Y.Fourmeau, Vincent David, Arno Bornkamp, Christian Wirth and Jean Denis Michat. Also interested in jazz music he has attended workshops with Steve Grossman, Randy Brecker, Gabriele Mirabassi, Hugo Aisemberg and Marco Tamburini.

Right at the beginning of his career Giuseppe successfully won 12 international and national first prizes playing both as soloist and in chamber music groups. He received prestigious awards and he has been a finalist in numerous competitions like the Tim Trophy, the National Prize of Arts, the International saxophone competition in Nova Gorica and the Musique du dernier siècle competition in Paris.

A well-rounded artist, he has collaborated with numerous composers such as: Mauro Lanza, Luca Francesconi, Vittorio Pasquale, Alfredo Cornacchia, Sophie Lacaze and Zeno Baldi.

He performs regularly throughout Italy and Europe as a soloist, with chamber ensembles and in orchestras. He is a founding member of the Jeune Saxophone Quartet and the Ensemble Exigentia.

Giuseppe Laterza is part of a generation of saxophonists driven by curiosity and desire to develop new musical techniques and maximize the potential of his instrument. He recorded a CD, Autos, with Soranno's Dream Band. In 2018 he published Technique and sound of the Saxophone focusing on the everyday workout on the instrument and he’s planning to release a new saxophone-piano duo album in 2020.

Quality certifier for the Henri Selmer Paris factory until 2016, today he plays the role of Alto Saxophone in the Italian Air Force Band.

Oskars Petrauskis studied at Auce Music School and Jāzeps Mediņš Riga Music Secondary School. He also studied saxophone at the Berlin University of the Arts with Prof. Johannes Ernst, receiving a bachelor's diploma (2005), and Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music (JVLMA) with Prof. Artis Sīmanis, graduating with a bachelor's degree (2005) and a master's degree (2007). He got additional training in Paris with the outstanding French saxophonist Vincent David and the professor at the Conservatoire de Paris (CNSMD) Claude Delangle.

Oskars is the winner of several major international competitions – he has won the Grand Prix at the Europe Yamaha Sax contest 2007 in Hamburg, he was a finalist in the EBU/Euroradio New Talent 2005, has won the Grand Prix at the Alps-Adria-Danube 2004 taking place in Slovenia, 1st prize in the Val Tidone competition in Milan, 2nd prize in the Hillari Karev competition in Tallinn, 3rd prize in the Gustav Bumke competition in Berlin.

He has been granted Selmer, the prestigious French company‘s scholarship Tremplin Jeaunes, the French government scholarship for studies in Paris, the Erasmus scholarship for studies in Germany, as well as the JVLMA and Swedbank Annual Award 2004. Oskars is also a laureate of the Latvian Music Recording Award 2009. In 2013, he was nominated for the Grand Music Award as one of the three brightest artists of the year and won public recognition prize. In 2019, Oskars won the Grand Music Award with the Latvian Radio Choir, Raimonds Petrauskis and Latvian Radio Big Band.

As a soloist he has performed with all leading Latvian orchestras - LNSO, LSO, State Chamber Orchestra Sinfonietta Riga, JVLMA Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Rīga, as well as Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra. Oskars regularly performs not only in duet with his brother, the outstanding pianist Raimonds Petrauskis, but also with Xylem Trio and the Latvian organ music star Iveta Apkalna. He can play freely in almost any style, whether it is classical music or jazz, sounds of the sophisticated contemporary art or free improvisation.

In the summer of 2014, Oskars and Xylem Trio formed an excellent concert program with the outstanding vocal ensemble The King's Singers at the Latvian National Opera and Ballet. His repertoire has included Sonata for alto saxophone with piano by E. Denisov, which was Oskars‘ choice when graduating from the Berlin University of the Arts with excellence in 2007, F. Marten's Ballad for saxophone with orchestra, which brought him the title of a finalist in the EBU/Euroradio competition in 2005, Swedish expressionist M. Karkoff‘s Sonatine reading his brother Raimonds, for which Mr. Karkoff expressed his great satisfaction.

Giya Kancheli, Kristaps Pētersons, Jēkabs Nīmanis, Vilnis Šmidbergs, Ēriks Ešenvalds have all composed new works especially for Oskars, which were performed with the Latvian Radio Choir, Sinfonietta Rīga and the PPO Rīga orchestras in the period of 2007–2013. Oskars and his brother Raimonds Petrauskis improvise freely on Latvian folk tunes.

Music albums released to date: with Xylem Trio - Vēstule Ziemassvētkos (Letter at Christmas) (2008). In The Mood of Giya Kancheli (2009). The classical music album Mia (2010) together with Raimonds Petrauskis. Ballade by Alfred Reed with the Riga Professional Symphonic Band (2008). Round Giya Kancheli with Xylem Trio (2018).