Latvia - Norway: discover Folk Tradition in Music

Project facts

Project promoter:
Sigulda School of Arts 'Baltais Fligelis'
Project Number:
LV04-0013
Target groups
Young adults,
Students
Status:
Completed
Initial project cost:
€57,000
Final project cost:
€56,261
From EEA Grants:
€ 45,431
The project is carried out in:
Vidzeme

Description

Participation in the project would be a great exchange of experience in the professional field as well as a strong addition to the links and motivated collaborative creation with students.Norwegian and Latvian heritage, musical traditions will to enrich and diversify local cultural life. New contacts will form a platform for development of further cooperation.During the project it is planned to prepare and perform a joint concert program for strings and voices, including Norwegian and Latvian modern folk music elements in an understandable manner for children and young people. 10 (ten) new Latvian folk song arrangements for string orchestra and choir by well known Latvian composers Imants Zemzaris and Emīls Zilberts will be created as a part of this project. The program will also include Norwegian folk songs specifically designed for string orchestra and choir.Project target group are children and youth from 9 - 18 years old and teachers.Project partner Nesttun String Orchestra will organize all acitvities, related to the project in Bergen, manages a part of the project funding and prepares reports.

Summary of project results

Project was planned as a great exchange of experience in the professional field as well as a strong addition to the links and motivated collaborative creation with students.Norwegian and Latvian cultural heritage, musical traditions will to enrich and diversify local cultural life through the project. This project was an excellent opportunity for young musicians from Sigulda and Bergen to get familiar with traditions and culture of the other nation, to learn to work in international environment and to bring joy and motivation to continuous studies of playing music instruments. In February, 2015, Sigulda Youth Chamber Orchestra and Sigulda Arts School “Baltais Flīģelis” choir visited Bergen in Norway, where a joint concert program together with Nesttun String Orchestra was performed in Grieg Hall. Also Bergen girls and boys choirs took part in the concert. In October, 2015 two concerts in Latvia were prepared and performed with participation of the Nesttun String Orchestra, Sigulda Youth Chamber Orchestra, Sigulda Arts School Choir and Cēsis Elementary School girls choir Con Anima and Cēsis Secondary School choir Volante. More than 200 young musicians from Norway and Latvia took part in the project. Compositions of famous Norwegian composer Edward Grieg were included in the program as well as Norwegian and Latvian national songs arranged for strings and voices. 13 new arrangements of Latvian national compositions were made by composers Emīls Zilberts and Imants Zemzaris especially for this project. The project's concerts was attended by approximately 2700 persons. Project was a great opportunity to create cooperation between teachers and student of the music for the further cooperation and to gain mutual understanding of the national culture of the both countries.

Summary of bilateral results

Nesttun String Orchestra was an equal partner of the Sigulda Youth Orchestra in the project implementation. Both provided an equal contribution in advertizing the project, preparing the musical material and performing. Nesttun String Orchestra participants after the visit of Latvian musicians expressed interest in Latvia, its cultural and musical heritage. Participants of both orchestras were similar in age and interests, they had also similar levels in performing. This makes the cooperation interesting for young musicians and gives a contribution in their future dveloping skills of international collaboration. Among the participants of the project in Norway and the Latvian developed a friendship that is strengthened during the project. Informing the local community about the project, as well as giving the opportunity to participate in cross-border musical adventure is extended local communities in the field of vision and knowledge of the other national cultural heritage and traditions.Latvian information on the concerts of the project spread to the day care centers, frequented by the public poorer part. It has been organized cultural exchange activities between Latvia and Norway and cultural exchange involved 200 young musicians from Latvian and Norway.