PLACE: Muntpunt library, Place de la Monnaie 6
ENTRANCE: the artists will be pleased to receive some donations during the performance
Language: Latvian with some introduction in English
Sometimes, words are music and music is a narrative. Tonight, both words and music will stir up some thoughts and feelings in us: feelings we didn’t know we had and thoughts we had not through. Both words and music are sometimes a message and, other times, a meditation.
Three of the leading Latvian writers will take care of the words; they are masters of words and with their harmonies and disharmonies, with their unique, individual moods will provide samples of what is deeply personal and therefore universal. It will all be very serious but with an injection of humor. Or, if you so wish, humor with serious subtexts as well as playing for the sake of playing.
Music will be the department of outstanding virtuosos, musicians who have under their belts a protracted education in the best European schools and who are not just slaves to their instruments and scores, but also aces of creation.
At times separately, at other times flowing together, words and music will supplement each other, amply demonstrating to us that one plus one is not always two but sometimes much more.
T h e W r i t e r s :
Inga Ābele, writer (Latvia)
Novelist, playwright, poet. Born in 1972. Her novel High Tide (Paisums) has been published in Swedish, English and Italian translations. Her latest novel, Klūgu mūks, received this year’s Latvian National Book Award. In March of this year, her play Aspazija. Personally saw its premiere at New Riga Theatre.
Guntars Godiņš, poet, translator (Latvia)
Born in 1958. Author of six poetry collections. His poetry has been translated into several languages: Swedish, Estonian, Finnish, English, French, Russian, and Thai. He is the founder and organizer of the Poetry Ride project and an editor of the literary magazine Latvju Teksti.
Nora Ikstena, writer (Latvia)
Born in 1969. She is best known for her novel Celebration of Life, which has been published in Estonian, Danish, Swedish, and Georgian; the novel The Virgin’s Lesson has been translated into Estonian and Lithuanian, and a collection of short stories, Life Stories, into English.
Juris Kronbergs, poet and translator (Sweden/Latvia)
Born in 1946. He has published 15 collections of poetry. His poems have been translated into more than 20 languages, with the book Wolf One-Eye also issued on a CD in several languages – the author is reading to the accompaniment of The One-Eyed Wolf Band (composer: Kristaps Grasis).
T h e M u s i c i a n s :
Valters Pūce and the Ensemble Da Gamba (Latvia, Belgium)
The international group Da Gamba, based in Latvia, was established in 2011 by the highly skilled academic musicians Valters Puce [cello] and Anton Trocjuk [cello]. Their super creative experiments with different kind of genres attracted Iranian percussionist Hamidreza Rahbaralam [daf, setar, voice] and Lithuanian pianist Dainis Tenis [piano] to join.
Agita Rando (Germany)
Studied church music at the Latvian Music Academy in Riga, completed graduate studies in organ playing in Bremen, Germany. She has also studied jazz piano. Since 2008 she has been based in Berlin, working as a pianist, composer and organist. Tonight Agita Rando will play solo piano as well as together with Sejāne&Grasis.
Sejane&Grasis (Liene Sejane , Kristaps Grasis & ensemble) (Germany, Sweden)
Modern chamber music is how flutist Liene Sējāne and guitarist Kristaps Grasis have labeled their music. This is music composed for different chamber ensembles; it is performed as a duo or together with larger, modern ensembles that play instruments that are also typical for jazz or rock music. More information on their homepage: sejane-grasis.com
Master of Ceremonies: Juris Kronbergs
