Jānis Petraškevičs
(10.02.1978 )
"I suppose that music exists uninterrupted; I am looking for an avenue where the sounds flow to catch the miracle of music. In the moment I hear the sound approaching I am also thinking about the same sound moving away from somewhere else; in the moment the sound reaches me and pierces my Self I am thinking that the same sound is not existing anymore somewhere else; in the moment the sound is leaving me I am thinking about somebody hearing the same sound approaching. However, I can (must) admit it is not a single sound wandering in the world like the wind of imagination. Vibrating and tremoring the air music itself can find me wherever I go. At this instance I do not care where the sound emerges from and where it is striving to..."
Jānis Petraškevičs
Jānis Petraškevičs was born in 1978 in Rīga, Latvia. Lives and works in Rīga.
Initially studied violin at the Emīls Dārziņš Music School in Rīga from 1985–94, but later studied composition there with Ģederts Ramans from 1994–96. He studied composition with Pēteris Plakidis at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music in Rīga from 1996–2003. Later had postgraduate studies in composition with Ole Lützow-Holm at University of Gothenburg from 2004–07.
Worked on his doctoral thesis in musicology at the Latvian Academy of Music under the guidance of Prof. Jeļena Ļebedeva from 2007–14. The title of thesis is Multidimensionality in avant-garde music of the second half of 20th century (composition techniques of Boulez, Carter, Ferneyhough, Ligeti and Stockhausen). He defended the thesis in 2014, obtaining PhD.
His music has been performed in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK, including once each at the Centre Pompidou, the Biennale di Venezia, Wigmore Hall, the ISCM World Music Days, the concert series Musica Viva in Munich, the festival Warsaw Autumn, the festival Ultraschall Berlin, the festival Archipel, Donaueschinger Musiktage, and the festival Skaņu mežs (Sound Forest). He has been featured composer at the festival AFEKT in Estonia. He has received commissions from Ensemble Intercontemporain, Nieuw Ensemble, Ensemble Modern, Wigmore Hall and SWR among others.
Awards include 1st prize in Prix Annelie de Man 2023 Composers Competition (Amsterdam) for "Neparalēles", duo for harpsichord and accordion; Teacher of the Year award at the Latvian Academy of Music in 2023; nomination for Latvian Grand Music Award for new composition of the year (for clarinet concerto Long Walks) in 2023; Fellowship of the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, Umbertide in 2014; Latvian Grand Music Award for new composition of the year in 2014 (for Darkroom – Ein Fantasiestück für Ensemble); Carl Larsson Scholarship for a residency in Fontainebleau in 2006; selected for a commission for the Ensemble Intercontemporain by the jury of Reading Panel (Comitée de Lecture), Paris, 2001.
He is also active in other positions. He has contributed articles to the magazines Mūzikas Saule – Sun of Music and Rīgas Laiks – The Rīga Time, both in Rīga.
He has lectured on aspects of contemporary music at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music since 2011. He has been appointed Senior Lecturer in composition at the above institution in 2017.
Jānis Petraškevičs © LMIC, 2024
Photo Edmunds Mickus