Imants Zemzaris (born 14 April 1951) is a Latvian composer and teacher.
His family is famous in Latvia due to his grandfather Jānis Endzelīns. A native of Riga, he studied in Emīls Dārziņš Music School [1] and Latvia State Conservatory with Ādolfs Skulte. Among his compositions are chamber and vocal music, as well as music for theatre and movies. He is also an interpreter of his own piano music.
Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the Baltic states; and is bordered by Estonia to the north, Lithuania to the south, Russia to the east, Belarus to the southeast, and shares a maritime border with Sweden to the west. Latvia covers an area of 64,589 km2 (24,938 sq mi), with a population of 1.9 million. The country has a temperate seasonal climate. Its capital and largest city is Riga. Latvians belong to the ethno-linguistic group of the Balts and speak Latvian, one of the only two surviving Baltic languages. Russians are the most prominent minority in the country, at almost a quarter of the population.
Dievturība is a neopagan movement which is a modern revival of the ethnic religion of the Latvians before Christianization in the 13th century. Adherents call themselves Dievturi, literally "Dievs' keepers", "people who live in harmony with Dievs". The movement is mainly based on Latvian folklore, folk songs and Latvian mythology.
"Dievs, svētī Latviju!" is the national anthem of Latvia. Created in 1873 as a patriotic song, it did not gain official status until 1920.
Traditional Latvian music is often set to traditional poetry called dainas, featuring pre-Christian themes and legends, drone vocal styles and Baltic psaltery.
Gidon Kremer is a Latvian classical violinist, artistic director, and founder of Kremerata Baltica.
Leor Dimant, better known as DJ Lethal, is a Latvian-American turntablist and producer and is best known as a member of the groups House of Pain and Limp Bizkit.
Mariss Ivars Georgs Jansons was a Latvian conductor, best known for his interpretations of Mahler, Strauss, and Russian composers such as Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, and Shostakovich. During his lifetime he was often cited as among the world's leading conductors; in a 2015 Bachtrack poll, he was ranked by music critics as the world's third best living conductor. Jansons was long associated with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra as music director.
Pēteris Vasks is a Latvian composer.
Ojārs Raimonds Pauls is a Latvian composer and a pianist who is well known in Latvia, Russia, post-Soviet countries and worldwide. He was the Minister of Culture of Latvia from 1988 to 1993.
Valters and Kaža, known internationally as Walters and Kazha, were a Latvian music duo consisting of Valters Frīdenbergs and Kārlis Būmeisters. They were best known for representing Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 with the song "The War Is Not Over", written by Mārtiņš Freimanis, finishing in fifth place with 153 points.
Lauris Reiniks is a Latvian pop music singer, songwriter, television host, and actor. Lauris has graduated from Jelgava Music college, studied, although never graduated, communication studies at the University of Latvia and trained as an actor in Los Angeles, California. He has released 9 solo albums and singles in 11 languages. As a composer and recording artist Lauris Reiniks has received more than 20 National Latvian awards and has gained international recognition in the Baltic states. Lauris Reiniks is also the Season 1 winner of Latvian "Dancing with the Stars" show. The millions of views of his music videos on YouTube has unofficially made him a "King of YouTube" in Latvia.
Jāzeps Vītols was a Latvian composer, pedagogue and music critic. He is considered one of the fathers of Latvian classical music.
Andris Nelsons is a Latvian conductor who is currently the music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Gewandhauskapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. He has previously served as music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, chief conductor of the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, and music director of the Latvian National Opera.
Intars Busulis is a Latvian singer, trombonist and musician in a Musical Union Intars Busulis & Abonementa orķestris. Wider recognition came from participation in a band called "Caffe", in 2001. Also, he has been the winner of several music competitions, as well as, he represented Latvia in Eurovision Song Contest 2009.
Marija Naumova-Bullīta, known professionally as Marija Naumova, is a Latvian singer of Russian descent. Under the stage name Marie N, she sings a broad range of music ranging from pop to musical theatre and jazz, and has recorded several albums, with songs in Latvian, French, English, Russian and Portuguese. In 2002, she won the Eurovision Song Contest for Latvia with her song "I Wanna".
Baldone Manor, also called White Castle, is a manor house in Baldone, Baldone Municipality in the historical region of Zemgale, in Latvia. It was built in 1901 as a hunting lodge . At present Baldone Music School is operating in the former hunting lodge.
Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music, formerly the Riga Conservatory, is a higher education establishment of music at 1 Barona Street, Riga, Latvia. The junior institute is the Emīls Dārziņš Music School.
Ēriks Ešenvalds is a Latvian composer, mainly of choral music. From 2011 to 2013 he was Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts at Trinity College, University of Cambridge.
Justs Sirmais, also known as simply Justs, is a Latvian singer and television presenter. He represented Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "Heartbeat".
Ivars Ijabs is a Latvian political scientist and politician. He is a lecturer and professor at the University of Latvia and holds a PhD in political science. In May 2019, representing political alliance Development/For!, he was elected as a Member of the European Parliament. He then joined Renew Europe Group.