Participants:
Ensemble for New Music Tallinn (Estonia)

This is a concert that travels through time, but not in a scientific or science-fiction sense. Here, time changes as experience: it can stretch, contract, repeat itself, return to a single point, or suddenly switch to another temporal layer. It is precisely within these displacements that a question of choice becomes audible – do we follow an external rhythm, or do we consciously turn the clock hand in another direction?

At the centre of the programme are two new works, both receiving their world premieres. Anna Veismane’s "Poēma. Piens." draws inspiration from a poem by Imants Ziedonis and deliberately turns time back to 1977 – almost the year of the composer’s birth. It is a return to a different Latvian rhythm, a different sense of calm, and a different language, now heard through the lens of present-day experience.

The new work by Evija Skuķe is constructed in a fractal form: material repeats as time is continuously rotated and reorganised, like a pattern that shifts scale. For the listener, this creates a tangible sensation – familiar temporal orientation begins to slip away, and the mind is invited to abandon automatic following in favour of conscious presence.

The programme also includes works not previously heard in Latvia: music by Estonian composer Age Veeroos, who turns time enigmatically toward the hour of dreams, and by Norwegian composer Jan Martin Smørdal, whose memory-oriented music is inspired by patterns of collective human behaviour.
The programme is performed by the Ensemble for New Music Tallinn, whose precision and flexibility allow these ideas to be heard not as declarations, but as lived experience. Turning Time creates a situation in which each listener is invited to ask: what do I choose to turn forward today – and what do I deliberately turn in another direction?

Founded in 2013, the Ensemble for New Music Tallinn has, over time, gained recognition as one of the leading contemporary music ensembles not only in the Baltic and Nordic regions, but across Europe as a whole. This status is strongly affirmed by the prestigious Ernst von Siemens Ensemble Prize recently awarded to the group. An artistically visionary outlook and uncompromising attention to the finest details, an interest in the nuances of microtonality and the courage to expand notions of instrumental virtuosity, a creative exploration of theatricality and the introduction of new instruments into concert practice, as well as the celebration of both established legends and rising stars of contemporary music – these are just some of the ensemble’s distinctive strengths. Although new faces occasionally appear among the musicians, the ensemble’s core line-up has remained largely unchanged since its founding.

The Estonia-based ensemble was founded and is artistically led by the conductor and composer Arash Yazdani, who has honed his craft in Tehran, Stockholm, Basel, Graz, and Tallinn.

Location: Chamber Hall

Duration: one-part concert, approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes

Organized by: Great Amber in cooperation with the Latvian Composers’ Union

Supported by: Liepāja City Council, State Culture Capital Foundation

Tickets: starting from € 15.00 (Ticket prices may change closer to the event)

Suggested age of attendees: 7+
Unnumbered tickets only for visitors in wheelchairs.

Discounts:

Students, teachers, seniors – 25%
Persons with group I and II disabilities and their companions – 50%
For holders of the Honorary Family Card (“3+ Ģimenes karte”) or LT (“Šeimos kortelė”) or EST (“Perekaart”) – 25%

NB. Upon attending a concert, the attendee must show personal identification.

Group tickets:
10–30 persons – 20%
30 and more persons – 25%