Anna Fišere, Miķelis Fišers and Andris Kalnozols to premiere a new commission at Skaņu Mežs

Composer Anna Fišere, visual artist Miķelis Fišers and writer Andris Kalnozols will present a new work at Skaņu Mežs’ free entry event on October 8 at Hanzas Perons. The creation of the work “Soul Cleansing Device” is part of LYRA, a project for kids and teens that is supported by the EEA Grants and Norway Grants funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

It is a work with elements of theater, new music, sound art and sculpture. But, above all, the authors insist it is a “pneumatic therapy session”. The initial stages of this work were created when Anna and Miķelis Fišeri held LYRA workshops in Riga, Liepāja and Tromsø. Some of the children they met at these events will participate in this performance as well.

The premiere will take place on October 8 – it will be an event that’s entirely devoted to LYRA, and it will start at 13:00, also presenting shows by Nídia, Evita Manji , Peter Ablinger and Sylwia Zytynska, and Alexander Rishaug and Ingrid Bjørnaali.

“Soul Cleansing Device” is a pneumatic therapy session. Norwegian writer Erlend Loe has said: “Laughter and play cleanses the soul.” The pneumatic device is constructed from a wide range of childrens’ toys that share a demand for air: balloons, inflatable animals, recorders, flutes and others. Joined in a smartly designed system, they are able to produce various unexpected sounds and movements, encouraging the listeners and spectators to free the air of their spirit and have a good laugh.

Anna Fišere is a composer working in the areas of chamber music, opera, music for choir and vocal ensembles, 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. Exploring the finest timbral, textural and technical possibilities of each instrument, her work is often created in close collaboration with musicians that eventually lead to meticulously designed sonoric architectures.

Some of her most notable works are “Tree opera. Windthrow”, inspired by the scientific research in plants’ neuro-physiology and deep forest ecology, premiered in an old-growth forest in Hyrynsalmi, Finland, 2019; “Carmen Sibyllae” (Song of the Sibyl) for symphony orchestra and mixed choir, based on Virgil’s Fourth Eclogue, premiered in 24th International Sacred Music Festival by the State Academic Choir “Latvija” and chamber orchestra Sinfonietta Rīga, 2021; opera “Vēsā” (Cold Maiden) for seven voices, two percussionists, antler harp and electronics, commissioned by artist Katrīna Neiburga and Valmiera Summer Theater Festival, in collaboration with Latvian Radio Choir, 2022.

Anna has received the Grand Music Award 2022 for the opera “Cold Maiden” as the Best Theatrical Performance, for which she was also nominated as the Composer of The Year in 2022 for “Carmen Sibyllae”, her “Mundus Invisibilis” (Invisible World) won the New York based string quartet “Quartet 121” Competition for New Works for String Quartet in 2021.

Miķelis Fišers is a renowned visual artist, primarily recognized for his expertise in painting. In addition, he excels in creating installations, woodcuts, drawing, videos, objects and stage designs. With an impressive artistic career, Miķelis has held more than twenty solo exhibitions and showcased his work in notable exhibitions across Europe. He participated in the 56th Venice Biennale and played a pivotal role in designing the Latvia pavilion for the 57th biennale with the exhibition “What Can Go Wrong”. Miķelis has won multiple notable awards, including the highest recognition in visual art in Latvia, “Purvītis Prize” in 2015.

Andris Kalnozols is a playwright and writer. His plays have been staged at the Latvian National Theater, Dirty Deal Teatro, and Ģertrūdes Street theatre. In 2005 along with his coursemates he founded the puppet theater society for adults, Umka, in which he took care of the quality of the literary material until 2012. From 2008 to 2017, he wrote and produced several theatre shows, including “Gasoline Man”, “The Best Man in Takhurann” and “Little Questions”, and wrote the libretto for Anna Fišere’s “Tree opera. Windthrow”, all of which has gained critical recognition. In 2020, Kalnozols’ debut novel “Call Me Calendar” was published in the Orbita Library Series, receiving the Annual Literature Award as the Most Striking Debut the year after and rapidly gaining a status of a national cult novel.