Network of Music Laboratories 'The PROCESS'
‘THE PROCESS’ was initiated by Rūta Vitkauskaitė and alongisde Ana Ablamonova, Asta Pakarklytė, Sigutė Ilgauskaitė, Albertas Navickas, Rita Mačiliūnaitė, and later joined by Marija Grikevičiūtė and Marija Kalvelytė.
The project brought together young artists from Lithuania and abroad in a stimulating creative space to generate original works of music and high-quality sound art. The team pioneered composition courses led in Lithuania outside the HE institutions, by building upon the standard composer’s course and expanding it into multiple directions.
‘THE PROCESS’ has drawn in international and intercultural collaboration by representatives of various fields of art and an exchange of cultural experience. While the works created in the Music Labs have ignited a cultural awareness and artistic literacy amongst the wider public.
The first edition of ‘THE PROCESS’ was as part of the national programme ‘Vilnius – European Capital of Culture 2009’ – ‘European School of Arts’ which aimed to provide a platform for young artists to learn from and interact with experts in the contemporary music field as well as to create a new network of events with a lasting impact on Lithuanian contemporary music culture.
The programme consisted of six music laboratories and music, dance, and video art projects, framed within 3 large festivals of contemporary youth art and music: NOA, DRUSKOMANIJA, and VILNIAUS VEIDAI.
Renowned ensembles such as ‘The Composers Ensemble’ (UK), ‘Ensemble LOOS’ (The Netherlands), Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra and ‘St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra’ (Lithuania) performed new music at the event. The programme also included master classes and lectures by renown professors, theoreticians, critics, and sound artists from across the world, such as David Toop (UK), Robert Fink (USA), Luis Naón (France), Diego Losa (France), John Woolrich (UK), Yannis Kyriakides (The Netherlands), and Moritz Bergfeld (Germany). The project partnered with young ensembles from across Europe, including ARCO Collective (UK), and Serbian Electroacoustic Composers Association.
Over 200 people from various countries participated in the event, which comprised more than 30 public events and concerts.
In 2012, the Lithuanian Academy of Music took on the project coordination, renaming it NORDPLUS IP MUSIC LABORATORY ‘THE PROCESS’, with Rūta Vitkauskaitė serving as the facilitator of creative activities. The project aimed to strengthen and develop Nordic-Baltic educational and cultural cooperation, promote cooperation among young composers and professional musicians, train composers in a multinational environment, and present new musical works of young composers to wider audiences.
The project was supported by the Nordplus HE programmes and coordinated within the classical music network Sibelius. For more information about the Nordplus programme, visit www.nordplusonline.org, and for information about Nordplus music networks, visit www.nordplusmusic.net.
In 2012, The Nordplus IP Process took place in Druskininkai. The participating lecturers included Niels Rosing-Show (Denmark), Kjartan Olafsson (Iceland), Ivar Frounberg (Norway), Kent Olofsson (Sweden), Veli-Matti Puumala and Tapio Tuomela (Finland), Rytis Mažulis (Lithuania), and the Performers String Quartet ‘Chordos’ and St. Christopher’s Woodwind Quintet.
In 2013, the project moved to Nida Art Colony and was organised around the theme of “Ecology” with the aim to explore, research, and create music compositions through collaborative work and immediate interaction with Nida’s natural heritage. Martin Q Larson (Sweden) facilitated the project along with Rūta Vitkauskaitė, and other lecturers included Palle Dahlstedt and Staffan Mossenmark (Gothenburg), Gundega Smite (Riga), Henrik Hellstenius (Oslo), and Juste Janulyte (Vilnius). The performers for the project were the Lithuanian Flute Quartet.
Nodplus IP project partners were Royal Danish Academy of Music (Denmark), Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (Estonia), Sibelius Academy (Finland), School of Music of Tampere University of Applied Sciences (Finland), Iceland Academy of the Arts, Department of Music (Iceland), Latvian Academy of Music (Latvia), Grieg Academy (Norway), Norwegian Academy of Music (Norway), Institute of Music and Media of the Lulea University of Technology (Sweden), Malmö Academy of Music (Sweden), Royal College of Music in Stockholm (Sweden).
Photos: Mantas Savickis, Viktorija Rimėnaitė, Images: Studio Creata
