The Grand Music Award is the highest honor in Latvian music, and this year Eriks Esenvalds' the multimedia symphony Northern Lights was praised as the Performance of the Year. What is the sound of the Northern Lights? Scientists believe that they have no sound, but through unique stories, the beauty of nature and breath-taking photographs and videos, Ēriks Ešenvalds gives them a voice. This outstanding 40-minute long symphony is a masterpiece devoted to the atmospheric optic phenomenon, the Northern Lights. It is a unique piece, which has an added value of cultural historical heritage. Ēriks went on several expeditions to northern Norway to meet his collaboration partner in this project – the Norwegian, Kjetil Skogli, a professional Northern Lights photographer and video maker. He also visited Iceland, Greenland, Russia and northern Alaska (USA). While there, he recorded nature sounds (breathing of whales in the fjords, frost cracking the tree barks, wind gales and dogs howling) and the tales and folksongs of the Northern Lights as told by the Nordic nations. https://vimeo.com/127453527
