Composers > Santa Ratniece

Santa Ratniece

"The dream reminded me of a large tower, where unending layers rise upwards and vanish into eternity or also circularly tend downwards and disappear into the depths of the earth. When I was caught by its swinging, it seemed like we were in a spiral, and this spiral was a labyrinth. There were no ceiling, no foundation, no walls, no return path. These were themes that repeated with an amazing precision."

From the Julio Cortázar book Hopscotch


BIOGRAPHY

Santa Ratniece was born on March 22, 1977 in Jelgava. She studied piano at the Valmiera School of Music. In 1996, she finished the Emīls Dārziņš College of Music specializing in music theory and composition with composer Imants Zemzaris. In 2000, she graduated the J. Vītols Latvian Academy of Music, specializing in musicology, and in 2002, specializing in composition with Romualds Kalsons. In the spring of 2002, as part of the program Socrates Erasmus, she studied in Enschede in the Netherlands with the English composer David Rowland.

In 2002, she began master’s studies at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre with Estonian composer Helena Tulve. In 2007 she received her Master’s Degree in arts, and the title of her Master’s Degree thesis was Claude Vivier’s Shiraz for Piano: Time and Pitch Structure.

In 2006, Santa Ratniece became a member of the Latvian Composers’ Union.

Music by Santa Ratniece has been performed by the Latvian Radio Choir, Altera Veritas, Ensemble NOVE, string quartet Diference, Sinfonietta Rīga (Latvia), NYYD Ensemble, Ensemble Resonabilis, pianist Kadri-Ann Sumera, trombonist Andres Kontus, singer Iris Oja (Estonia), Deutsch-Skandinavische Jugend-Philharmonie, Ensemble Reflexion K (Germany), Arditti Quartet, Charles Matthews (England), Nederlands Kamerkoor (The Netherlands), Quatuor Molinari (Canada), Sydney Symphony Fellows (Australia) and others.

Santa Ratniece’s music has been performed at the festivals Arēna, Skaņu mežs (Sound Forest), Latvian New Music Days, Solaris, Introvert Music festival (Latvia), Estonian Music Days, Autumn Festival, Lepo Sumera festival (Estonia), Présences 2006, Tenso Days Paris 2007 (France), Klangspuren 2006 (Austria), The Baltic Sea festival (Sweden), MusiMars (Canada), ISCM World Music Days 2008, GAIDA 2009 (Lithuania), Tenso Dagen Amsterdam 2009 (The Netherlands), 2010 ISCM World New Music days Sydney (Australia), La Biennale di Venezia 2010 (Italy), Usedomer Music festival 2010 (Germany) and in various concerts in Russia, Switzerland, Argentine, Belgium, and elsewhere.

Awards:
Petunia – 1st Prize at the Young Composers Competition in Tallinn, 2003;
sens nacre – selected work in the young composers category at the 2004 UNESCO International ROSTRUM for Composers;
Saline – Latvian Annual Award for Culture of the daily newspaper Diena in 2006;
sens nacre – the Copyrights’ Infinity Award 2007;
Saline – recommended work at the 2008 UNESCO International ROSTRUM for Composers;
Chu dal – the Copyrights’ Infinity Award 2011.


DISCOGRAPHY

Glittering Promenade / Deutsch-Skandinavische Jugend-Philharmonie, conductor Andreas Peer Kahler – 13’46” // Die Musik des Baltikums - 2005, DEMATON, Lubeck (Germany)

...sens nacre / Ensembles Altera veritas and Ensemble Nove, conductor Normunds Šnē – 11’08” // Per musicam ad lucem – 2006, MASF

...sens nacre / Altera veritas: Ieva Lapiņa, Anda Zaborovska (kokles), Andis Klučnieks (flute), Aldis Jurisons (accordion); Ensemble Nove: Dita Krenberga (flute), Normunds Šnē (oboe), Ints Dālderis (clarinet), Agnese Kanniņa-Liepiņa (violin), Olafs Štāls (alto), Diana Ozoliņa (cello), Jānis Stafeckis (double-bass), Edgars Saksons (percussion) – 11’05” // Winning Music. Award Winning Compositions by Latvian Composers – 2006, LMIC 007

Aragonite / String Quartet Diference: Dace Rīdiņa, Ilze Pence, Una Vikštrēma, Līga Veilande – 12’27” // Latvian String Quartets. Latviešu stīgu kvarteti – 2008, LMIC 015

Septiņi pakāpieni (Seven Steps) / Clarinet Quartet Contraverso: Egīls Šēfers, Mārtiņš Kalniņš, Guntis Kuzma, Anrijs Pitens – 7’07” // Latviešu komponisti pūšaminstrumentiem / Music for Winds by Latvian composers – 2008, LMIC 016

Hirondelles du Coeur for mixed choir and chamber orchestra / Sinfonietta Rīga, Latvian Radio Choir, conductor Normunds Šnē – 7’01” [excerpt] // New Music from Latvia <2009 – 2009, LMIC 020

libellules for clarinet and cello / Egīls Šēfers, Ēriks Kiršfelds – 9’49” // Egīls Šēfers. Ziemeļsaule / Northern Sun – 2010, LMIC 022

Saline for mixed choir / Latvian Radio Choir, conductor Sigvards Kļava – 11’49” / Hirondelles du Coeur for mixed choir and / Latvian Radio Choir, Sinfonietta Rīga, conductor Normunds Šnē – 21’55” / horo horo hata hata for mixed choir / Latvian Radio Chamber Singers, conductor Kaspars Putniņš – 11’07” / Chu dal for mixed choir / Latvian Radio Choir, conductor Sigvards Kļava – 12’50” // Saline – 2010, LMIC 024


LITERATURE

I. Liepiņa, Šādai mūzikai jāplūst no tālienes (This Kind of Music Must Flow From Afar) [review of premieres of works by Andris Dzenītis and Santa Ratniece at the concert in the Anglican Church] // Neatkarīgā Rīta Avīze, April 26th, 2004 • J. Petraškevičs, Klusums un solījumi (Silence and Promises) [review of the concert of the Introvert Music Festival, including the premiere of a work by Santa Ratniece] // Mūzikas Saule, 2004, No. 3, 60–61 • I. Lūsiņa, Veiksmīgā skaņu spēle (Effecting Sound Play) [interview regarding her victory at Rostrum] // Diena, June 16th, 2004 • S. Ņedzvecka, Rostrum 2004. Statistics and Rejoicing // Mūzikas Saule, 2004, No. 4, 14–15 • S. Ņedzvecka, Sāls un medus (Salt and Honey) // Mūzikas Saule, 2007, No. 4, 18–21


Mārīte Dombrovska
Photo - Edmunds Mickus
© LMIC