Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music ( lv, Jāzepa Vītola Latvijas Mūzikas akadēmija), formerly the Riga Conservatory, is a higher education establishment of music at 1 Barona Street,

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

. The junior institute is the Emīls Dārziņš Music School.

History

Latvian Conservatory of Music was founded in 1919 by the Latvian composer

Jāzeps Vītols Jāzeps Vītols (german: Joseph Wihtol; 26 July 1863 – 24 April 1948) was a Latvian composer, pedagogue and music critic. He is considered one of the fathers of Latvian classical music. Biography Vītols, born in Valmiera the son of a sc ...

, who also became the first director of the

Latvian National Opera The Latvian National Opera and Ballet (LNOB) is an opera house and opera company at Aspazijas boulevard 3 in Riga. Its repertoire includes performances of opera and ballet presented during the season which lasts from mid-September to the end of Ma ...

. He remained director until 1944, excepting 1935-1937 when the director was his choral assistant Pauls Jozuus. There were junior and senior courses that covered around 9 to 10 academic years. Beginning in 1940, the structure of the conservatory changed: the lower junior courses were transferred in secondary education system and later became a base for Jāzeps Mediņš's and Emīls Dārziņš's secondary schools of music. And there formed up courses of higher school in the conservatory. Beginning 1 October 1951 LPSR Institute of Theater was joined to the conservatory, reorganizing it to a faculty of theater with departments of

acting Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor or actress who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode. Acting involves a broad r ...

and directing. In May 1958 it was renamed to the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian conservatory. In January 1964 conservatory had been renamed to J.Vītols Latvian institute of Art, but in July 1964 institute was renamed back to J.Vītols Latvian conservatory.

Organization

Departments

The Academy is divided into the following departments: * Piano Department * Department of Accompanists * Department of Compulsory Piano * Department of Chamber Ensemble and Piano Accompaniment * Department of String Instruments * Department of Wind Instruments * Department of Jazz Music * Department of Orchestra Conducting * Department of Choir Conducting * Department of Vocal Music * Department of Early Music * Department of Choreography * Department of Music Education * Department of Instrument Performance Teaching * Department of Music Technology * Department of Composition * Department of Musicology * Department of Humanities * Department of Science and Research * Department of Self-Financed Studies * Department of Doctoral Studies

Notable teaching staff

The following have served as Academy Rectors: *

(1919—1935) * Pauls Jozuus (1935—1937) * Alfrēds Kalniņš (1944–1948) * Jēkabs Mediņš (1948–1950) * Jānis Ozoliņš (1951–1977) *

Imants Kokars Imants Kokars (16 August 1921 in Gulbene, Latvia – 24 November 2011 in Riga, Latvia) was a Latvian pedagogue and conductor. His twin brother Gido Kokars Gido Kokars (16 August 1921 – 10 March 2017) was a Latvian conductor. He was the twin ...

(1977–1990) *

Juris Karlsons The Juris were a tribe of South American Indigenous people, formerly occupying the country between the rivers Içá (lower Putumayo) and Yapura, north-western Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Por ...

(1990–2007) * Artis Sīmanis (2007-) Lūcija Garūta taught composition and music theory from 1940 and was elected to the professorship in 1960. During the republic, the State Conservatory had only one Jewish professor of music, Adolf Metz, head of the violin department. Many Jewish students emigrated to Lithuania.Bernhard Press The murder of the Jews in Latvia: 1941-1945'' 2000 p16

Notable alumni

* Misha Alexandrovich, cantor *

Iveta Apkalna Iveta Apkalna (born 30 November 1976, Rēzekne, Latvia) is a Latvian organist and pianist. Biography Iveta Apkalna studied piano and organ at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music, graduating in both instruments with distinction in 1999. ...

, pianist and organist * Volfgangs Dārziņš * Sarah Feigin *

Elīna Garanča Elīna Garanča (born 16 September 1976) is a Latvian mezzo-soprano. She began to study singing in her hometown of Riga in 1996 and continued her studies in Vienna and in the United States. By 1999 she had won first place in a significant compe ...

, mezzo-soprano *

Inese Galante Inese Galante (born 12 March 1954) is a Latvian soprano opera singer. Galante is known for a great beauty of tone, nuanced pianissimos and sensitive command of dynamics and colour. Her performance of Vavilov's ''Ave Maria'' (often attributed to ...

, soprano *

Jānis Ivanovs Jānis Ivanovs (9 October 1906 in Babri, Preiļi – 27 March 1983 in Riga) was a Soviet and Latvian classical music composer. In 1931, he graduated from the Latvian State Conservatory in Riga. In 1944, he joined the conservatory's faculty, ...

, composer * Arvīds Jansons * Olga Jegunova, pianist * Oleg Kagan, violinist *

Aivars Kalējs Aivars Kalējs (April 22, 1951, Riga, Latvian SSR) is a Latvian composer, organist and pianist. Career Aivars Kalējs has written more than 100 opuses of symphonic, organ, piano, chamber and choir music. His works have won several compositi ...

, organist and composer *

Gidon Kremer Gidon Kremer ( lv, Gidons Krēmers; born 27 February 1947) is a Latvian classical violinist, artistic director, and founder of Kremerata Baltica. Life and career Gidon Kremer was born in Riga. His father was Jewish and had survived the Holoc ...

, violinist *

Kristīne Opolais Kristīne Opolais (born 12 November 1979) is a Latvian operatic soprano. Biography Opolais was born in Rēzekne, Latvia, and studied at the Latvian Academy of Music. Opolais started her career as a member of the chorus with Latvian National Ope ...

, soprano *

Raimonds Pauls Ojārs Raimonds Pauls (born 12 January 1936 in Iļģuciems, Riga, Latvia) is a Latvian composer and piano player who is well known in Latvia, Russia, post-Soviet countries and worldwide. He was the Minister of Culture of Latvia from 1988 to 1 ...

* Uģis Prauliņš *

Uldis Pūcītis Uldis Pūcītis (15 April 1937 – 14 December 2000) was a Latvian television, theater and film actor, scriptwriter and film director. Early life and stage career Uldis Pūcītis was born in Ranka parish, Gulbene District to Jānis Pūcītis a ...

, actor * Alfred Strombergs, conductor, vocal coach, and pianist *

Aleksandrs Viļumanis Aleksandrs Viļumanis (30 August 1942, Preiļi, Reichskommissariat Ostland) is a Latvian conductor. Vilumanis studied percussion and conducting at the Latvian Academy of Music, being hired 1962 as a percussionist and conductor's assistant at t ...

, conductor * Imants Zemzaris *

Ēriks Ešenvalds Ēriks Ešenvalds (born January 26, 1977) is a Latvian composer. From 2011 to 2013 he was Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts at Trinity College, University of Cambridge. Biography Ēriks Ešenvalds was born in Priekule, Latvia in 1977. He studie ...

, composer

References

External links

* Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music Educational institutions established in 1919 Buildings and structures in Riga 1919 establishments in Latvia {{Europe-university-stub