News and Events

Performances & opportunities to hear new works.

The XV Latvian Song & Dance Festival in Canada

Blodniekos vasarā (At Our Farm in the Summertime) will be premiered at the Massed-choir concert of the XVI Latvian Song Festival.

Saturday July 6th, 2024, 3:00 pm, Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto.

The XVI Latvian Song & Dance Festival in Canada has included my setting of Natalie Fraser’s lovely poem in the programme of the Festival’s Mass Choir Concert on Saturday, July 6th, 2024 in Toronto.

Closer to concert date, you can buy tickets HERE.

Bella Clarinet Quartet performs Erika’s piece Laika gaitā at Ohio State University’s Clarinet Spectacular in October, 2023

Bella Clarinet Quartet is an all-women quartet dedicated to performing and recording new and lesser-known pieces by women composers. Founded in 2019, Alyssa Powell (University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire), Vanessa Klassen (Regina Symphony, Canada), Gabrielle Valladares (Ohio), and Erin Dowler (Lansing Symphony) continue to draw on shared experiences as graduates of The Ohio State University, where they studied together and taught as graduate teaching assistants for Caroline Hartig, professor of clarinet. As the recipients of a Running Start grant from Michigan State University in 2022, BCQ recently recorded two lesser-known quartets by women, the first of many such recordings intended to help diversify the clarinet repertoire.

Watch for the Bella Clarinet Quartet’s recording of Laika gaitā (Over the Course of Time), coming to the Music page soon.

Online concerts and videos from Latvia!

While in Latvia for a year, I had many wonderful collaborations with Putni Vocal Group, a fantastic women’s vocal ensemble and the inspiration for my own Klaritas Vocal Ensemble. Hope you enjoy these performances of my music by Putni Vocal group!

Watch: Ziemassvētki sabraukuši (Christmas Has Come), the first song of my set of Three Winter Solstice Songs, is heard in this promotional video for Putni’s 2017 CD, Ziemas saulgriežu dziesmas, now available for streaming or download at Bandcamp.

Watch: Debess (Sky/Heaven) is the first of of six poems by Fricis Bārda that I set to music in 2015. The whole cycle is called Sava vieta uz zemes (My Place on the Earth), and was recorded by Putni Vocal Group in 2017. Putni Vocal Group has often included “Debess” in their Christmas concerts. This simple song shows off the group’s pure voices and flawless technique, and I’m so proud that it has earned a permanent place in their repertoire.

DEBESS performed at American Choral Directors Association Regional Conference

Award-winning Latvian women’s vocal ensemble Putni Vocal Group had the honor of being invited to perform as the guest International Choir at the Northwestern Regional conference of the American Choral Directors Association. Putni sang “Debess” in two Portland concerts: March 7th and March 9th, 2018, and also in two Seattle concerts. “Debess”, a lovely and deceptively simple 4 part song, was written in 2015 especially for Putni, and it shows off the group’s flawless legato and vocal coloring. Putni have sung “Debess multiple times in concert, and consider the song part of their “golden repertoire”.