In collaboration with the Norwegian festival Insomnia, the experimental music festival Skaņu mežs is continuing to work on LYRA, a project for kids and teens that is supported by the EEA Grants and Norway Grants funded by Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway. From 6-7 June in Liepaja and from 10-11 June in Riga, interdisciplinary art masterclasses for youngsters will be conducted by the duo of composer Anna Fišere and artist Miķeļis Fišers. Participation is free of charge.

In the workshop, the primary focus will be on inventing and creating objects that generate sound as well as strange musical instruments. The working process will involve the use of wind instruments that can be operated with compressed air, as well as various toys (radio-controlled cars, vintage wind-up toys, etc.). The end result will be the creation of a sound and object installation-performance in which the workshop participants will take part as performers. In October, elements of this jointly created work will used in a performance as part of the Skaņu mežs festival. The name of the workshop is Mad Professor.

Miķelis Fišers is a visual artist who works in fine arts, creating objects and installations, and has also worked in stage design, creating stage solutions in Latvian theatres. He has taken part in more than 50 major international group shows and organised 20 solo exhibitions. In 2015, he was awarded the Purvītis Prize for his solo exhibition Injustice, and in 2017, he represented Latvia at the Venice Biennale’s 57th International Art Exhibition, with the exhibition What Can Go Wrong.

Anna Fišere is a Latvian composer who works in the field of chamber music, opera, choir and vocal ensemble music, instrumental solo compositions, duets, electro-acoustic music and sound installations. One of the composer’s major works is her Tree Opera, which was performed in the middle of a Finnish forest in 2019.

In 2020 Anna Fišere won a Players’ Night Award as the composer of the Best Musical Score of the Year. Last year, during the Valmiera Summer Theatre Festival, the composer’s opera Vēsā won the 2022 Players’ Night Award Jury Special Prize, as well as the Grand Music Prize for Production of the Year in 2023.

DATES:

• 6-7 June, two day workshop at the cultural venue “Pegasus Courtyard” (Kuršu Street 20, Liepaja)
• 10-11 June, two day workshop at Miķeļis Fišeris’ studio (Ganību dambis 19, Riga)

START TIMES (ON ALL DATES): 12:00

WHAT PARTICIPANTS HAVE TO BRING WITH THEM: A good mood.
AGE OF PARTICIPANTS: 13 – 17 years
DURATION: Two days, 6 hours each day
ATTENDANCE: up to 10 participants

The workshop will be held in Latvian.

Participation free of charge!

Applications can be made in free form, by writing to the following e-mail address: simonakaupuza@gmail.com or calling: +371 27485473.

LYRA receives grants in the amount of EUR 206,256.00 within the framework of the EEA Grants and Norway Grants funded by Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway. The project aims to introduce kids and teenagers to experimental music and to get them involved in its creation. As it is democratic and non-hierarchical in essence, experimental music gives trained and untrained kids the chance to take part in making music. Since the project crosses social and ethnic divides, it is also socially inclusive.

Total LYRA eligible costs: EUR 202,510.00, European Economic Area financial instrument programme Local Development, Poverty Reduction and Culture Cooperation support sum: 85% or EUR 85,000.00, of which:

• European Economic Area financial instrument co-financing: 85% or EUR 175,317.60;
• State Budget co-financing: 15% or EUR 30,938.40.

More information is available at: https://www.skanumezs.lv/en/lyra-en/