About
Anna is a Latvian composer working in the areas of chamber music, opera, music for choir and vocal ensembles, instrumental solo pieces, duos, electroacoustic music and sound installations. Fascinated by the most intricate properties of sound, she approaches it as a live organism that embodies a musical form in itself. Her work is often created in close collaboration with musicians, exploring the finest timbral, textural and technical possibilities of each instrument that eventually lead to meticulously designed sonoric architectures. Inspired by the mysteries of nature, she steps with it into a conversation through her music in which she strives to collide disciplined rationality and scientific research with feminine intuition and sensitive plasticity.
In 2019 her Tree Opera. Windthrow for eight voices, chamber ensemble and electronic track premiered in an old-growth forest in Hyrynsalmi, Finland. Drawing inspiration from the most recent scientific research in plants’ neuro-physiology and deep forest ecology, it explores forest as a natural stage to create a unique experience of our interconnectedness with nature at large and forest in particular. The chamber ensemble musicians, Swedish Paetzold contrabass recorder player Anna Petrini and singers from the Grammy Award winning Latvian Radio Choir performed on specially built platforms positioned in trees that has become a trademark of the show.
Works in progress
"Earth" for Latvian Radio Choir, conductor Sigvards Klava.
Premier in summer 2023. Latvian Radio Choir
Trio for flute Ilona Meija, piano Reinis Zarins and cello Kristine Blaumane.
Premier in autumn 2023.
Premiers and selected performances of original works
Mundus invisibilis (The Invisible World) "Cleanroom" part II for string quartet and electronic track. Riga, Latvia, Copenhagen, Denmark,October 2022. Beijing, China, Spring 2023.
“Hesychia” (Stilness) for Paetzold contrabass recorder, chamber ensemble and electronic track. Akniste, Latvia, Summer 2022.
Opera "The Arctic Maiden" for 7 voices, two percussionists, antler harp and electronic track. Riga, Valmiera, Summer 2022.
Just A Brief Moment for mixed choir
Premiere Jazepa Vitola Latvian Academy of Music choir based on the poetry of Vizma Belsevica, Spring 2022
Carmen Sibyllae (Song of the Sibyl) for symphonic orchestra and large choir. Riga, Latvia, September 2021.
Mundus invisibilis (The Invisible World) part I for string quartet and electronic track
Performance “Quartet 121”, New York City, NY, USA, anticipated Spring 2021
Mundus invisibilis (The Invisible World) part I for string quartet and electronic track
Premiere “Sinfonietta Riga String Quartet”, Riga, Latvia, March 2021
Tree Opera. Windthrow for eight voices, chamber ensemble and electronic track
Selected to represent Latvia at the “European Forum on Music 2020” (Climate Action: Music as a Driver for Change) with the full live recording from the premiere in Finland, Bonn, Germany, 2020
Tree Opera. Windthrow for eight voices, chamber ensemble and electronic track
Premiere Latvia Radio Choir, chamber ensemble and Anna Petrini (Paetzold contrabass recorder), conductor Arturs Gailis, forest stage and scenography by architect Austris Mailitis and artist Andris Eglītis, Hyrynsalmi, Finland, 2019
The dense fog covered the earth for mixed choir
Premiere State Choir Latvia, Latvian Radio Choir and Riga Chamber Choir AVE SOL at the grand finale concert “Latvian Composers for Centenary of Latvia — Latvia 100”, in the National Library of Latvia, Riga, Latvia, 2019
Artifex Auditions II for chamber ensemble
Selected by the International Society of Contemporary Music Latvian section to represent Latvia at the World Music Days in Tartu and Tallinn, Estonia, 2019
Radices (Roots) for eight voices and electronic track
Recording of Latvian Radio Choir submitted to represent Latvia in the new music competition “Rostrum” in Argentina, 2019
Tree Opera. Part 1 for three voices, three percussionists and electronic track
Performance as “Tree Opera. In the city” in a Riga city park as at the opening ceremony of the International Festival of Contemporary Theatre “Homo novus”, Riga, Latvia, September 2018
Radices (Roots) for eight voices and electronic track
Premiere Latvian Radio Choir, conductor Kaspars Putnins, at the Jazepa Vitola Latvian Academy of Music Contemporary Music Festival “deciBels”, Riga, Latvia, 2018
Krummi svaf i kletagja (The Raven slept on the Cliff) for mezzo soprano
Performance Ieva Parsa at the opening ceremony of the “Latvian Export and Innovation Award”, Riga, Latvia, December 2017
Neurostenia for viola and sustain pedal of piano
Performance viola Peteris Trasuns, Salzburg, Austria, November 2017
Artifex Auditionis I for chamber ensemble
Premiere at the opening ceremony of the “Skanu Mezs” festival for innovative music, concert hall “Muzikas nams Daile”, Riga, Latvia, October 2017
Neurostenia for viola and sustain pedal of piano
Performance viola Anna Lindenbaum of the New Art and Music Ensemble Salzburg “NAMES”, Salzburg, Austria, March 2017
Duality electroacoustic composition
Premiere at the Jazepa Vitola Latvian Academy of Music Contemporary Music Festival “deciBels”, Riga, Latvia, 2017
Tree Opera. Part 1 for three voices, three percussionists and electronic track
Premiere at the Alternative Chamber Music Festival “Sansusi”, Akniste, Latvia, 2016
Am Moor (At the Moor) for soprano, The B-Series self-made square and trumpet, Krummi svaf i kletagja (The Raven slept on the Cliff) for mezzo soprano, Amanita Muscaria (Fly agaric) for chamber ensemble, Neurostenia for viola and sustain pedal of piano
Concert at opening gala of the young artists exhibition “Spriedze” - jaunie Latvijas gleznieciba III" (Tension - the young ones in Latvian painting III), Latvian National Museum of Art exhibition hall “Arsenals”, Riga, Latvia, May 2016
Sound installations
For the sculpture “Semina futuri” (Seeds of Future) by Linda Boļšakova at the contemporary art festival Sculpture Quadrennial Riga 2020 “Wonders of Democracy”, Riga, Latvia, October 2020
SMART SOUNDING FOREST Electronic sound installation for the Latvian pavilion designed by architect Austris Mailītis at the World Expo 2020 Competition, Dubai, UAE, 2019
For audiovisual installation “Matter. Ritual” at “Zirgu pasts” the theatre house of the Latvian Academy of Culture during the annual modern culture forum “White Night”, Riga, Latvia, 2019
For installation “Intermediate. Vibration” at “Zirgu pasts” the theatre house of the Latvian Academy of Culture during the annual modern culture forum “White Night”, Riga, Latvia, 2018
For the solo exhibition “The Dark Night of The Soul” of the visual artist Ata Jakobsona, Riga, Latvia, 2017
Electronic sounds installation for 52 speakers in a botanical garden for “European Capitals of Culture”, Aarhus, Denmark, 2017
Overview of all original work
Mundus invisibilis (The Invisible world) part II Cleanroom (2023) for string quartet and electronic track.
“Hesychia” Paetzold (2022) for contrabass recorder, chamber ensemble and electronic track.
Opera "Frigid" (2022) for 7 voices, two percussionists, antler harp and electronic track.
Carmen Sibyllae (2021) for symphonic orchestra and large choir.
Just A Brief Moment (2020) for mixed choir.
Mundus invisibilis (The Invisible World) part I (2020) for string quartet and electronic track.
Tree Opera. Windthrow (2019) for eight voices, chamber ensemble and electronic track.
Radices (Roots) (2019) for eight voices and electronic track.
The dense fog covered the earth (2018) for mixed choir.
Artifex Auditions II (2017) for chamber ensemble.
Krummi svaf i kletagja (The Raven slept on the Cliff) (2017) for mezzo soprano.
Neurostenia (2017) for viola and sustain pedal of piano.
Duality (2017) electroacoustic composition.
Tree Opera. Part 1 (2016) for three voices, three percussionists and electronic track Artifex Auditionis I (2016) for chamber ensemble.
Am Moor (At the Moor) (2015) for soprano.
The B-Series (2015) for selfmade square and trumpet.