Krista & Reinis Dzudzilo are building an installation for PQ (Prague Quadrennial 2019). The installation "Zum Raum wird hier die Zeit" includes three octaves of hand-made tubular bells that will play Auznieks’ music.
Guitarist Jiji to premiere Auznieks' Cor at Lincoln Center's Great Performers Series
Bringing virtuosity and style to both the acoustic and electric repertoire, award-winning guitarist Jiji shows off her range in a captivating program spanning Bach to Reich.
Philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer says that “we should never underestimate what a word can tell us, for language represents the previous accomplishment of thought.”
I love the root “Cor.” In Latin it refers to “heart,” hence the English word “core” as the center of one’s being. However, in Latin figuratively it also refers to soul and mind. It turns out that “courage” has the same origin. And so does conCORd: of one mind, bring into union. Take yet another route and it means to remember (reCORdor: call to mind, recollect) but in some dialectical variants it can even refer to God. I like to imagine, in a somewhat fanciful manner, that guitar strings participate in that history and that the word “cord” shares something with the etymology of “cor”: after all, Italians use “CORde per chittara” to talk about guitar strings. But how far is “chord” from “cord?” When we say “to strike a chord,” we are refering to both, “heart” and “concord,” and at times we say it to tell each other that we remember (reCORdor) something else because of a similarity.
When Jiji asked me to write her a piece, I knew I wanted it to be about being Human, that is, something essential that speaks about a condition that transcends our current time and place. For me, it entails both the Enlightenment’s Mind and the Romanticism’s Heart, and I feel that the guitar has an equal dose of both. Its heart, its strings (CORde) — at least linguistically — are closely tied to its body (CORpus) bringing together body, mind, and heart in an effortless play. After spending months with the piece, I became convinced that the other connotations of the word “Cor” were as relevant to the music: it requires a great deal of courage from the performer as well as concord among mind, body, and heart; and there is an underlying remembrance of things past. Portuguese “cor” for color, reveals the piece’s focus on varied hues of a similar harmony and the Old French “cor” that refers to a horn hints at the horn calls that summon us to witness a mind-body union later in the piece. Even Gaelic “cor” is relevant: it is a word for “condition,” “state” or even “eventuality” revealing the inevitability inherent in the musical materials.
Cordially,
Krists
Atlanta Symphony's 75th Season to feature Auznieks' "Crossing"
Celebrated throughout the world, the gardens of Andalusia are a wondrous blend of Roman and Moorish architecture bejeweled by intensely-hued tiles and fountains. Spanish composer Manuel de Falla draws you into these intoxicating spaces through the piano showpiece Nights in the Gardens of Spain. Robert Spano welcomes the elegant Mexican virtuoso Jorge Federico Osorio to perform this hypnotic score. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra closes the program with selections from Sergei Prokofiev's ballet masterpiece Romeo and Juliet.
Performance Dates
Thursday, January 9, 2020 8:00 PM
Saturday, January 11, 2020 8:00 PM
Auznieks Awarded Sarasota Orchestra Earshot Fellowship
EarShot, an initiative of American Composers Orchestra (ACO) in partnership with American Composers Forum, League of American Orchestras, and New Music USA, is the nation's first ongoing program for identifying and promoting the most promising orchestral composers on the national stage. Led by Los Angeles based conductor Christopher Rountree, four composers hailing from across the nation will hear their music played for the very first time. In seminars, feedback sessions and workshops the composers will spend the week working with the musicians of Sarasota Orchestra. The public will have several unique opportunities to see how the compositions develop in behind-the-scenes reading sessions leading up to Sarasota Orchestra's world premiere performances of the finished scores.
Auznieks Awarded Focus Fellowship residency at AIR Serenbe
Focus Fellowship residency at AIR Serenbe is a month long artist-in-residence program in Chattahoochee Hills, GA. These award residencies are carefully nominated annually by National Advisory Council, a group of esteemed peers and experts in their respective fields, and then selected by Residency Panel.
Auznieks Appointed a Lecturer of Musicianship and Analysis at Yale School of Music
Auznieks will be teaching at Yale's Master's program.
Crossing Premiered at Aspen Music Festival
The piece, commissioned by the festival and its artistic director Robert Spano, was performed by Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra led by Patrick Summers.
"Brass" Premiered at Norfolk Chamber Music Festival
The Australian Maverick Brass Quintet premiered Auznieks' “Brass“ at the concert dedicated to new music.
NeoArctic Performed at The Southbank Center in London
Internationally acclaimed Danish art collective Hotel Pro Forma unite with the Latvian Radio Choir in the UK premiere of this eco-apocalyptic opera.
We have entered a new geological age. Humans have become a force of nature, instrumental in causing rapid change to the earth we inhabit. Nature itself has become a cultural side effect with dramatic, uncontrollable ecological consequences. Climate change has turned the Earth into a hostile planet.
With intricate electronic soundscapes performed against a backdrop of abstract, digital landscapes, NeoArctic is a feast for the senses that transports audiences into an atmospheric, abstract world.
Auznieks Wins Latvian Grand Music Award
The prize was given for the best new work of the year for his concert-length Fire and Rose written for Sinfonietta Riga.
The Grand Music Award (GMA) is the highest form of state recognition in the field of music. It was established in 1993 following the initiative of former Minister of Culture Raimonds Pauls. For the first few years the awards ceremony took place in Riga Great Guild Hall, since 1996 the home of GMA is the Latvian National Opera House. The ceremony is broadcasted by Latvian Radio 3 Klasika and by Latvian National Television. The nominees and the prize-winners are selected by a jury, members of which have closely monitored the music life in Latvia: attending concerts and musical shows. Prize-winners received a silver statuette, created by Armands Jēkabsons and a monetary award. The Latvian Grand Music Award ceremony is organized by State Concert Agency Latvijas Koncerti and the Ministry of Culture of Republic of Latvia.
