A live performance of a monumental work by Rihards Dubra for Good Friday, commissioned and performed by Latvian concert pianist Reinis Zariņš.

Well-known Latvian composer of sacred music, Rihards Dubra has created a concert-length work for solo piano about the Passion of the Christ. The structure of this work is based on the traditional Stations of the Cross, a ritual walk contemplating the events of Good Friday. In Dubra's version, the Passion narrative embraces a wider and deeper panorama of events, revealing the meaning of Christ's suffering, the role of the Evil and the surprising conclusion, which the traditional Stations usually leave out. Dubra's dramatic music is clearly divided into two languages - one revealing the characters of darkness, the other - those of light.

Visions of the Passion. Light is possibly the world's first work for solo piano based on the Stations of the Cross. Its monumental design and deeply personal expression intertwine to create a powerful listening experience. The work has been commissioned by the Latvian pianist Reinis Zariņš who gives the work its UK premiere on Good Friday this year.

Reinis Zariņš is a classical concert pianist who seeks, through music, to sound the mystery of Life.

After his studies at Yale University and London Royal Academy of Music, Reinis returned to his roots in Latvia where he currently makes his home and where his creative laboratory is.

For Reinis, music serves its purpose best when it can be shared. His wish to communicate through music has brought Reinis to some of the most prestigious concert stages, including London Wigmore hall, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Seoul Arts Center and New York Carnegie Hall, although Reinis always reiterates that it is the people listening, there and then, that matter above everything else. To that end, Reinis also loves performing in unusual settings, in the woods and meadows, in backyards and tunnels.

His solo recitals often present an overarching theme that ties all its different ingredients into one unified sculpture. Reinis's musical interests range widely and wildly, from the earliest keyboardists to our current pop stars, but he tests and chooses his repertoire according to a certain intuitive filter which can be formulated as "beauty and truth". As a result, Reinis has developed, over the years, a particular interest in the so-called pilgrim composers - those who seek to express the inexpressible. Next to the great Johann Sebastian Bach he mentions Johannes Brahms, Olivier Messiaen, Arvo Pärt, John Tavener and several others.

Reinis Zariņš
Reinis's artistic partners have included violinists Gidon Kremer, Viktoria Mullova, cellists Matthew Barley, Ashley Bathgate, Trio Palladio, dancer Kirill Burlov, painter Maryleen Schiltkamp, as well as eminent conductors Pierre Boulez, Peter Eötvös, Andreas Spering and Andris Poga. Reinis has performed concerti with London Philharmonic orchestra, Kremerata Baltica, Ostrobothnian Chamber orchestra, Strasbourg Philharmonic orchestra, Moscow State chamber orchestra, and he regularly appears with all Latvian and Lithuanian orchestras.

Reinis has commissioned and premiered works by many leading Latvian composers, including Pēteris Vasks, Andris Dzenītis, Georgs Pelēcis, Rihards Dubra, Ēriks Ešenvalds, Arturs Maskats, Linda Leimane and Andrejs Selickis. Most of Reinis's discography contains works by Latvian composers, and it gives him great joy when he grasps yet another characteristic of the Latvian DNA through the compositions of his compatriots. For his services to the Latvian culture, Reinis has been awarded with the Order of the Three Stars, and has won Latvia's Grand Music Award five times. These distinctions are the highest forms of Latvian state recognition.

Away from the piano, Reinis loves to play hide-and-seek with his children, walk in the rain with his wife, run long distances and watch movies.

For more information visit a reiniszarins.com.