Inside the Composing Process with Ēriks Ešenvalds

Inside the Composing Process with Ēriks Ešenvalds
Saturday, February 15, 2025

Join renowned Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds for an intimate exploration of his creative journey. Known for his evocative choral works and lush harmonies, Ešenvalds will reveal the inspirations, techniques, and stories behind his music. From sketching initial ideas to weaving poetic texts into transformative compositions, this talk offers a rare glimpse into the mind of a modern musical innovator.

Ēriks Ešenvalds is one of the most sought-after composers working today with a busy commission schedule. Performances of his music are heard on every continent and his works are widely recorded. Ēriks is a popular public speaker, which he often combines with leading masterclasses and conducting.
Born in Priekule, Latvia in 1977, Ēriks Ešenvalds studied at the Latvian Baptist Theological Seminary from 1995–97 before obtaining his master’s degree in composition in 2004 from the Latvian Academy of Music under the tutelage of Selga Mence. He took masterclasses with Michael Finnissy, Klaus Huber, Philippe Manoury, and Jonathan Harvey, amongst others. From 2002–11 he was a member of the acclaimed State Choir Latvija, the largest professional choir in the Baltics. From 2011–13 he was Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts at Trinity College, University of Cambridge. At present, Ēriks heads the Department of Composition at the Latvian Academy of Music, where he has been teaching since 2004. He is a doctoral candidate in the arts. Ēriks lives near Riga and is married with four children.
Ēriks Ešenvalds has won multiple awards for his work, including the Latvian Grand Music Award three times (2005, 2007, 2015). The International Rostrum of Composers awarded him first prize in 2006 for his work The Legend of the Walled-in Woman. He was The Year’s New-Composer Discovery of the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2010. In 2018 he was bestowed Officer in the Order of the Three Stars, the highest state decoration of his home country Latvia, for merits in the field of culture.
Ešenvalds’ compositions have been premiered by ensembles including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Utah Symphony, Britten Sinfonia, Gewandhaus Leipzig, The King’s Singers, Latvian Voices, Choir of Trinity College Cambridge, Holst Singers, Imogen Heap, Polyphony, Choir of Merton College Oxford, Latvian Radio Choir, State Choir Latvija, and many others. He composed the scores for the feature films Dawn of War (2020) and Mellow Mud (2016).

Ēriks Ešenvalds’ music has been performed in major venues around the world, including Carnegie Hall in New York, Symphony Hall in Boston, Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the Royal Albert Hall and Wigmore Hall in London, Symphony Hall in Birmingham, Sydney Opera Hall, Philharmonie Berlin, the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, and Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall. His works have been performed at and commissioned for numerous international festivals, including the BBC Proms, Cheltenham Music Festival, Voices Now, and LIVE from London in the UK, the Grant Park Music Festival, ACDA National and Regional Conferences, and Spoleto Festival in the US, and many others.

Ēriks Ešenvalds’ music is widely recorded and released by labels such as Decca Classics, Delphian, Deutsche Grammophon, Hyperion, Naxos, Ondine, Pentatone, Signum, Odradek, and Berlin Classics. To date, ten recordings are devoted exclusively to his work.

Ešenvalds’ recent large-scale premieres include Lakes Awake at Dawn for the Boston Symphony Orchestra and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, The Pleiades for the Grant Park Music Festival Chicago, A Shadow for the BBC Proms, Dreams Under Your Feet for the Gewandhaus Leipzig, Whispers on the Prairie Wind for the Utah Symphony and Utah Chamber Artists, St Luke Passion for the Latvian Radio Choir and Sinfonietta Riga, and Visions of Arctic: Sea for the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra.

Read his full bio at: https://performingartscentercapecod.org/inside-the-composing-process-with-eriks-esenvalds/

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