Riga, Latvia’s Skaņu Mežs festival for adventurous music will host its 22nd edition on 4-5 October at concert hall Hanzas Perons (16a Hanzas street), and it has commissioned Latvian composer Gundega Šmite to write a new work for the occasion. “Four Electroacoustic Love Poems” will be performed by singer Gunta Gelgote on October 5, the second central evening of the festival. Tickets can be purchased at www.bilesuserviss.lv. Festival ticket price is 50 EUR.
“Four Electroacoustic Love Poems” shines a light not only on Šmite as one of today’s key Latvian composers, but also as a literary talent. The composer admits to have started writing poetry and short stories in childhood – way before she started training in composition, which, as time went on, became her primary vocation. However, since moving to Greece, Šmite has intentionally devoted more time to writing, and, two years ago, her story collection “Greek Suite” (“Grieķu svīta”) was nominated for the Annual Latvian Literature Award (LALIGABA) in the category of “best literary debut”.
This commission for Skaņu Mežs furthers her long-standing creative collaboration with singer Gunta Gelgote – via electronic processing, her voice with develop an alter ego of sorts that will serve as a source of narrative hints for the listener.
Gundega Šmite (1977) was born in Riga, Latvia. She holds a doctoral degree in arts from the Latvian Music Academy. She has participated in Centre Acanthes composition workshop, having masterclasses with Salvatore Sciarrino, Fabio Nieder, Philipe Hurel, Oskar Strasnoy and Unsuk Chin. From 2008 she has been leading composition masterclasses for young composers in Sigulda and Madona (Latvia). Since 2007 she has been a lecturer at the Latvian Music Academy. From 2009 till 2012 she held a chairman’s position at the Latvian Composers’ Union. She has won numerous prizes and recognitions for her work, including festival Culturescapes International young composers’ competition (Switzerland) and Latvian Grand Music Award (2019). Her works have been performed by Berlin, Swedish and Latvian Radio choirs, BBC singers, Stockholm saxophone quartet, Ensemble Lucilin (Belgium), BIT20 (Norway) and Percussions des Strasbourg among others. Currently, she is based in Thessaloniki, Greece.
Gunta Gelgote has participated in “Skaņu mežs” twice before – as part of previous editions, she has sung the music of Līga Celma and Evija Skuķe. Gelgote has a long standing creative partnership with Gundega Šmite – Šmite has written such works as the vocal cycle “Yellow Free” and the orchestra-voice piece “Tides” specifically for her soprano. She often performs works of contemporary composers – again, myriad of renown Latvian composers have written works for her voice, including Mārtiņš Viļums, Imants Zemzaris, Dace Aperāne, Platons Buravickis, Indra Riše and Georgs Pelēcis. Gelgote currently lives and works in Lithuania: as a coloratura soprano, she is currently a recurring guest vocalist at Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, where she has performed roles in such operas as “Cornet” by Onutė Narbutaitė, “The Bat” by Johann Strauss, “Candide” by Leonard Bernstein and “The Tales of Hoffmann” by Jacques Offenbach. Gelgote often performs chamber music in collaboration with such pianists as Aija Kuzmane, Herta Hansena un Lelde Tīrele.
It has previously been announced that iconic experimental music project Autechre, avant-garde guitarist Fred Frith and abstract hip-hop duo Armand Hammer will also perform at the festival.
Skaņu Mežs is a member of the SHAPE+ platform for innovative music and audiovisual art as well as the project tekhnē, supported by the European Union and the Latvian Ministry of Culture. SHAPE+ is now also supported by Pro Helvetia.
Skaņu Mežs festival is supported by the State Cultural Capital Fund, Riga City Council, the Latvian Ministry of Culture, Goethe-Institut Lettland and Trust for Mutual Understanding. Sponsors of the festival are Valmiermuiža.
Skaņu Mežs is a member of the international network ICAS (International Cities of Advanced Sound) and the Northern European music festival network NERDS (North European Resonance and Dissonance Society).
