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Thanks to support from European Economic Area (EEA) grants, the Great Amber Concert Hall will be organizing four regional creative workshops in 2023 as part of the project CirqueMusique Arts Laboratory. It will result in a mobile interdisciplinary contemporary music performance with elements of circus in 2024, intended for a youth audience aged 12 to 18. The performance will be created through collaboration with circus artists from Norway and Iceland, as well as the involvement of brilliant Latvian composers, circus performers, musicians, and, most importantly, the young participants themselves.

Timurs Tomsons, Chairperson of the Board of the Concert Hall: “Our experience shows that young people in the regions do not have free and regular access to modern art, even less so art that is created for their age group. The Concert Hall pays attention to creating educational artistic programs, so we are glad that, with the support of the EEA grant, we can also involve international artists for bringing our ideas to life. One of the added values of the project is the opportunity to not only expose youth to contemporary music and art, but also involve them in the practice of creating a production through creative workshops. The project team are thrilled by the opportunity to experiment with merging these forms of art, which is also a professional challenge for us.”

The artistic director of the project is Norwegian circus artist and juggler Julian Saether. His experience in working with artists from various fields will ensure a varied artistic experience and the discovery of new creative angles both for the young participants of the workshops and the composers and artists involved in the project. Iceland will be represented in the project by the internationally acclaimed artist, artistic director of the Handbendi Brúðuleikhús Greta Clough. Greta will head audience development seminars for representatives of regional cultural institutions and share her experience on how culture initiatives may be used for reviving and developing rural regions and communities.

CirqueMusique involves four internationally recognized Latvian composers of the new generation – Krists Auznieks, Platons Buravickis, Linda Leimane, and Santa Ratniece. The composers’ task will be to reveal the world of contemporary music and composition to workshop participants and to create an original work at the conclusion of the project that will combine the worlds of music and circus. The composers will be assisted by outstanding Latvian musicians – violinist Agnese Kanniņa, clarinetist Kārlis Catlaks, bass guitarist Edvīns Ozols, percussionist Elīna Endzele, and flautist Liene Dobičina. The musicians will also teach workshops for students of regional music schools.

The synergy of circus and music is especially important in this arts laboratory; therefore it will be a noteworthy event on a state level, experimentally combining these two disciplines of art. The art of circus will be represented in the project by artists from Norway – juggler Julian Saether and acrobat Zelda Lyseng Storvik, as well as guest trainers from the Rīga Circus School – juggler Egils Zvejnieks, acrobat and Cyr wheel specialist Aleksejs Smolovs, as well as juggling clown Mariano Gedwillo (stage name – Cronopio) from Argentina.

The creative workshops will take place this spring and fall in four Latvian concert halls – in Rēzekne, Cēsis, Liepāja, and Ventspils, and the final performance will be presented in Rīga, in February 2024. Progress of the project can be followed on the website of the Concert Hall under “About Us” as well as the social network accounts of the Concert Hall.

The project “CirqueMusique Arts Laboratory” receives funding in the amount of 249 972 EUR from Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway, as part of EEA grants.