Who: Charmaine Lee

When: October 3, 11:00

Where: Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of music (Krišjāņa Barona street 1), LMT Chamber Hall

Topic: The Voice, Improvisation, and Building a Personal Language

Attendance: free of charge

Charmaine Lee will give a performance-lecture with an open discussion on her practice, approaches to improvisation, vocal and electronic techniques, and building a personal language.

Charmaine Lee is an Australian vocalist based in New York. Using the voice, feedback, and live processing, Lee’s practice is primarily concerned with risk-taking, playfulness, and improvisation. She has been recognized as “extraordinary” by New Yorker and has been featured in New York Times, Washington Post, and Wire Magazine. As a composer, Lee has been commissioned by leading institutions including the International Contemporary Ensemble, Wet Ink Ensemble, and HBO Max. Lee is an Emergent Ventures winner (2024) and was an Artist-in-Residence at ISSUE Project Room (2019) and a Van Lier Fellow at Roulette (2021). Her long-standing collaborators include Conrad Tao (Forbes 30U30) and Ikue Mori (MacArthur Fellow). Lee frequently guest lectures at undergraduate and graduate-level composition programs around the country. In 2023, she founded a record label & distribution platform, Kou Records, dedicated to pioneering artists in music & sound.

Charmaine Lee will perform live at the Skaņu Mežs festival on October 4 at concert hall Hanzas Perons. 

Supported by: The State Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia, the Trust for Mutual Understanding, SHAPE+ platform,which is co-funded by the European Union and Pro Helvetia, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia, and Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of music.