ABOUT THE CREATORS PHOTO: CHRISTOPHER PETER © SCHOTT PROMOTION
PĒTERIS VASKS was born in 1946 in Soviet-occupied Latvia. The son of a Baptist pastor in an atheist state, he was stigmatised and pre-cluded from studying double bass at the Latvian Academy of Music. Instead, he enrolled at the Academy in Vilnius, Lithuania. He performed with the Latvia’s national opera and symphony orchestras before turning to composition. Early influences included Polish composers Lutosławski and Penderecki as well as Latvian folk traditions. By the 1980s he’d forged a unique musical vocabulary and become known in the West through violinist Gidon Kremer’s championing of his music. He was contracted by the German publisher Schott in 1990, the year before Latvian independence. His style is characterised by a radiant simplicity, but you’ll also hear drama, brilliance and, especially in his orchestral works, sumptuous romantic lines. As a Latvian, he belongs to a geographical group of composers whose work emerged from an atmosphere of oppression and the struggle for independence in the shadow of the former USSR: Pärt in Estonia, Rautavaara in Finland, Kancheli in Georgia and Gorecki in Poland. Vasks’ music responds to the culture and environment of his homeland and its turbulent history, and the spiritual element of his music taps into our desire for beauty, and for hope.
PHOTO: MEAGAN FITZPATRICK
MARIA LOPES is a Sydney-based composer, singer and musician, and music has been a part of her life since she was a small child. Growing up with music-making in the family home, she began singing in church settings as a choir member and cantor, conducting and directing church music in her late teens. The Sydney folk music scene also provided an outlet for her songwriting skills to emerge. After completing a Bachelor of Music degree in flute performance at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, she went on to perform in recital with pianist Beryl Potter on the Sydney music club circuit. Composition and singing reemerged in her life during postgraduate study working as a clinical music therapist. She has performed as a vocal soloist with jazz pianist Kevin Hunt for the Whitlam Institute, Music at Manly and SALT Festival in Port Lincoln, and at the Hub Springwood and Eastwood Ryde Leagues Club. She has sung with the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs since 2013 and is a member of the Chamber Singers. For Maria, composition is a natural extension of improvisation. Her writing process is intuitive and lyrical in style, drawing heavily on background research from which her ideas take shape.
SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS · 2022 SEASON · 12
