Online festival “Latvian New Music Days 2021” launches today

This year, the contemporary classical music festival produced and organized by the Latvian Composers' Union takes place for the tenth time (1.- 5. March, April 17 and April 29, 2021). A total of thirteen premieres of Latvian composers can be experienced online from Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius concert halls. The program includes compositions by Mārtiņš Viļums, Linda Leimane, Anna Ķirse, Madara Pētersone, Oskars Herliņš, Armands Skuķis, Platons Buravickis, Sabīne Ķezbere and others. The pieces are performed by well-known Latvian musicians: Chamber Orchestra Sinfonietta Riga, Sinfonietta Riga String Quartet, vocal group “Birds”, saxophone quartet Atomos and ensembles from Estonia and Lithuania - “Ensemble U:” and “Twenty Fingers Duo”.

The creation of music and its flow from a performer to the listener can be metaphorically paralleled to the way an electric impulse flows through the wires. In our opinion, high-quality music is a great conductor that transfers energy. Ideas and stories can travel from opus to opus and they do it both ways what is the most important part. People tend to say that modern composers are constantly en-shadowed by the great masters of the old.

The festival "Latvian New Music Days 2021" invites you to look at this assumption from a different angle for contemporary music not only links the music with contemporary times but is also an infinite collaboration - a wire connection - between the sound buildings and generations of musicians. This year's concerts were named "The Foot Concerts" since it is possible to watch them from anywhere. The best listening places are suggested with videos by the composers themselves. The recommendations are published in cooperation with the Internet journal Satori.

The core of the festival "Latvian New Music Days 2021" is built around several concert programs that each focus on a magistral opus of the 20th century that has changed the paths of development of music – "Piano Phase" by Steve Reich, "Second String quartet" by György Ligeti and "Vortex Temporum" by Gerard Grisey. These masterpieces have been the source of inspiration for the new works of Latvian composers who contextualize, reflect, and meditate on the poetic and technological aspects of those pieces. In our opinion, high-quality music is a great conductor that transfers energy. Ideas and stories can travel from opus to opus and most importantly, they do so in both directions.

Ticket subscriptions & festival passes:
Festival pass for two legs - 15 EUR
Festival pass for six legs (one person with two friends) - 40 EUR
Individual concert tickets - 5 & 7 EUR
Tickets: https://ej.uz/muzikasdienas

More info:
http://www.muzikasdienas.lv/
https://www.facebook.com/komponisti

The festival is supported by the State Culture Capital Foundation, Latvian Radio 3 "Klasika", Riga Latvian Society and the Internet journal "Satori".
The concert of Ensemble U: is supported by Estonian Ministry of Culture.