Tune into Radio NABA on Saturday, September 9th (14:00 local time), to hear an interview with Norwegian composer Natasha Barrett ahead of her performance at the concert hall Ave Sol as part of a White Night event by Skaņu Mežs festival (same evening, 21:00). Along with the free-admission show, it is a part of Skaņu Mežs’ project called “Nordic Women in Experimental Music”, organized in cooperation with Kulturkontakt Nord and Latvian State Culture Capital Foundation. The aim of the concert series is to highlight the wealth of female talent coming from this region, since the experimental music scene in a wider sense is male-dominated. Live stream available here – http://www.naba.lv/tiesraide/
The interview will be conducted by Viestarts Gailītis.
Natasha Barrett studied in England for masters and doctoral degrees in electroacoustic composition, after which, in 1999, she moved to Norway. Since then her work with sound has expanded to encompass soundart, sound-architectural installations, interactive techniques, collaboration with experimental designers and scientists as well live performance and improvisation. She says: “Although computer and digital technologies are my core tools and sometimes the technology stimulates ideas and becomes the focus, most of the time I find technology is just a tool to realise ideas in sound. Technology has changed so fast over the past 20 years and will obviously continue to do so, yet art has a slower sense of evolution, which although connected to changes in both technology and society, has a timeless aspect long after technology has become retro. For me, science, the organsiation of society and culture are more significant driving forces. I’m interested in listeners hearing and feeling music and art through sound and temporal structure, rather than them needing to understand the complexity of my techniques.” Her works are performed and commissioned throughout the world and have received numerous recognitions, most notably the Nordic Council Music Prize (Norden / Scandinavia, 2006), Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Awards (France 2001, 1998 & 1995), Concours Luigi Russolo (Italy 1995 & 1998), Prix Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria 1998).
