Festival link 2.0
The goal of the project Festival Link 2.0 is to strengthen the ability of small and independent organizations to face shared challenges and difficulties through specialist exchanges and access to specialized knowledge. It also aims to promote artistic collaboration and encourage joint creative processes and decision-making by combining individual identities and community initiatives with shared values.
The project “Festival Link 2.0” brought together festivals and composers — Finland’s “Silence Festival” and Lauri Supponen, Germany’s “Classic Beat Festival” and Sofia Günst, the Netherlands’ “Bachfestival Dordrecht” and Oene van Geel, and Latvia’s Sansusī festival and Krists Auznieks.
From the uncertainty of sowing seeds to the abundance of harvest, the composition forms an arc — or a circle — across its four performances, encompassing the entire process of vegetation. Each quartet represents an interplay between the imagination of each individual composer and the space created between them. Each quartet is performed separately, yet connected to the other three. Together, all four quartets form a composition for an orchestra of 16 performers, operating simultaneously in one and several places.
The first quartet version, for violin, viola, cello, an
d double bass, performed by “Uusinta Ensemble,” took place on June 8 and 9, 2024, in Finland at the “Silence Festival” (https://www.hiljaisuusfestivaali.fi/).
On June 23, 2024, in Dordrecht, the Netherlands, at “Bachfestival Dordrecht” (https://www.bachfestivaldordrecht.nl/), the second version of the work — for flute, oboe, bass clarinet, and bassoon — was performed.
In Germany, at the “Classical Beats” festival (https://www.classicalbeat.de/), the version for electric guitar, drum set, trombone, and electric bass was performed on the evening of July 22, 2024, by musicians from the “Munich Composer Orchestra by Gregor Hübner.”
And the fourth version — for voice, kokle, accordion, and flugelhorn — performed by Daniils Kuzmins, Līga Griķe, Artūrs Noviks, and Kristians Kalva, took place at the Sansusī festival (www.sansusi.lv) on the evening of August 10, 2024.
All four versions were combined and captured in concert film format by director Toms Harjo, creating the fifth version of LOKS — a permanent, composer-created version for all musicians together. The film premiered on November 5, 2024.
Composers: Lauri Supponen, Oene van Geel, Krists Auznieks, Sofia Günst
Musicians: Maria Puusaari, Max Savikangas, Sirja Nironen, Vilhelm Karlsson, María Cristina González, Inge Ariesen, Fie Schouten, Bram van Sambeek, Felix Eilers, Fabian Ernst, Philipp Grabit, Tim Haas, Anna Emmersberger, Oscar Mosquera, Vincent Marian Crusius, Freddy Andrej, Andrew Munn, Līga Griķe, Kristians Kalva, Māris Rozenfelds
Director Toms Harjo: “This has been the most complex editing project I have ever undertaken. My only task: to help the listener not get completely lost in the jungle of sounds. Honestly, I don’t know if I got lost myself. But I’m really happy with the result!”
The project is co-financed by the European Union and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia. “Festival Links 2.0” is a European cooperation project in the field of classical music, aimed at promoting greater sustainability for independent classical music festivals in Europe through artistic collaboration, audience research and development, and capacity building.
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