Evija Skuķe is a Latvian composer who studied with Pēteris Vasks and Pauls Dambis. Her musical influences range from Fausto Romitelli and Gerarad Grisey to metal bands Sleep and Slayer. Sievietība (Womanhood) a song cycle for coloratura soprano and piano
- Tu – sieviete. (You – woman.)
- CIKLS (THE CYCLE)
- I am afraid of m(y own body)en
- a woman should
- M/W
- s I e v I e t ī b a (w o m a n h o o d)
- Tās dienas (Those days)
Through it, I speak about the experience of being a woman, from a woman’s viewpoint. Firstly, I must note that I consciously chose not to include the factors of motherhood and sex, and focus on other aspects of being a woman instead. There are two parts about menstruation (one in Latvian, the other with no language), a look on the Madonna/Whore complex, the annoyance that is everyone having an opinion on what a woman should be, and, also, the dangers of being viewed as the gentler sex. In between parts, there are interludes along the theme of women can’t comprehend technologies. Second, this is a new type of work in my portfolio in several ways: I use an abundance of quotes (Madonna, Monteverdi, Schubert, I ask you to listen and find out more), and I am using text taken from titles found through Google Search, a survey and memes.
Choreography by Agate Bankava
Soprano Gunta Gelgote
Piano Lelde Tīrele
