News

On August 9th at sunset, Hanzas Perons in Riga, Latvia presented GORDONIĀDES a marathon concert of epic proportions. Concertgoers will settle-in with sleeping bags and pillows to spend the night at the venue and experience hours of consecutive performances of Michael Gordon’s works for multiples: 8 for 8 cellos, Rushes for 7 bassoons, Amplified for 4 guitars, culminating in the final moments of Timber for 6 percussionists as the sun rises!

Miks Malone, artistic director at Riga’s Hanzas Perons explains the history and context behind this unparalleled event:

GORDONIĀDES is a play-on-words in Latvian: “iādes” connotes something that is ongoing; overcoming something — like an armada of ships overcoming a navy. For this epic series of events we are stringing together consecutive performances of Michael Gordon’s cycle of chamber music pieces for the same instruments.

Started by accident during the pandemic when Gordon’s ‘Timber’ (for 6 percussionists playing on 6 wooden planks) saw the Latvian premiere in Ventspils as part of a visual arts installation ‘Biežņa’ or ‘Thicket’ created by visual artists Katrīna Neiburga and Andris Eglītis. Followed by ‘Amplified’, ‘8’ and ‘Rushes’ in different contexts and locations, and scattered over time; it sort of left a feeling that the cycle should still be seen and introduced to others as a whole — as a journey not only embedded in each piece, but the whole cycle.

So, we’re here now: in Riga, at Hanzas Perons venue and GORDONIĀDES is taking place from 3-9 August 2024 when ‘Amplified’, ‘Timber’, ‘Rushes’, and ‘8’ will be played in a scenery created by Andris Eglītis as 4 single-night concerts over 4 evenings, then climaxing in a dusk-till-dawn night on 9 August, when all four works will be performed consecutively for an audience spending the night at the venue in a cozy setting of camping — “glamping” they call it in the USA!

We have simply, and humbly, taken (to the extreme) the idea of Michael Gordon’s of these pieces being a journey. For this series of concerts, we add the excitement of a journey to the experience of seeing live music, as one might imagine when watching a series of epic films, like Gus Van Sant’s ‘Gerry’, Iñárritu’s ‘Bardo’ and Cuarón’s ‘Roma’ all in one viewing.

Four evenings, one night, 22 musicians — and the whole cycle as one.

—Miks Magone – artistic director, Hanzas Perons (Riga, Latvia)

For more information about these works or any of Michael Gordon’s music, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.