On Sunday, 1 October, at 17.00, the contemporaryart festival "Liepāja Art Forum" will conclude with the singing andeducational stories connected to the Latvian nation in the performance"All Birds Sing Beautifully" by director Krista Burāne. The performancewill address the ways in which culture, nature and singing creatures – birds – meetand interact, and what they do to each other. This musical performance will beheld outdoors, in Liepāja Seaside Park, by the "Mother Wind"monument.
"All Birds Sing Beautifully"celebrates all the singing people and bird species of Latvia, whose voices aregradually becoming drowned by intensive agriculture and logging. The fiveleading bird figures of the show are species whose populations are currentlydeclining rapidly both in Latvia and in Europe. The audience will hear thestories of the Yellow Wagtail, the Grouse, the Corncrake, the Eurasian Skylark,and the White-backed Woodpecker, which also speaks for its siblings, sevenother woodpecker species. These birds were chosen because of their importantrole in Latvian mythology and the ecosystem.
"I wish to let people who passionately lovesinging know that our voices have power not only among the large Song Festivalchorus, that they are not only beautiful but can also advocate for othersingers - birds. We tell the story of Latvians and birds meeting, sharing acommon space, coexisting, and singing together. We ask ourselves the question –where lies the value of a bird's song?" Krista Burāne, the director,introduces the concept of the performance.
The project brings together professional artistswith the local community and young people singing in choirs. However, the choirdoes not only perform the musical score by composer Jēkabs Nīmanis but alsotheir thoughts on singing and the relationship between man and nature becomepart of the dramatic content of the show. The audience, by listening and hearingthe stories about birds and people, takes on the role of the choir singers andcontributes to the overall sound of the performance.
The audience, divided into five groups, formsfive choirs, tasked with learning a song by meeting five conductors – birds. Eachteaches a fragment of the song and informs about the reasons why the particularbird species is endangered, and the opportunities not taken to prevent it, andadds a mythological layer to the narrative. Although the performance is basedon learning a song, no vocal skills are required from the audience. The guestchoir singers encourage singing along and provide the sonorous quality.
"All Birds Sing Beautifully" ischoreographed by Kristīne Brīniņa, art directed by Pamela Butāne, conducted byPatriks Kārlis Stepe, with the participation of actors Artūrs Čukurs, ElīzaDombrovska, Rūta Holendere, Anna Klišāne and Armands Siliņš, along with themixed choir "Laiks" (conducted by Ilze Balode) from Liepāja Folk Artand Culture Centre, taking up on a role of the multivocal "All the BirdsChoir".
VIDEO: A sneak peek into the show "All Birds Sing Beautifully": https://youtu.be/cr2Gf3DHWTs
The performance is held outdoors, with no seats,on the plaza in front of the monument to sailors and fishermen perished at sea"Mother Wind" (on Zvejnieku aleja 11A, in Liepāja). You will have tomove around the surrounding area during the event. Please wear comfortableclothing appropriate for the weather.
The "Liepāja Art Forum" ContemporaryArt Festival is organised by "Lielais Dzintars" Ltd. Tickets for thepaid events are available at the "Biļešu paradīze" box office andonline: https://www.bilesuparadize.lv/lv/custompage/3688. More informationabout the festival programme is available at: www.lielaisdzintars.lv/en
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