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State Choir Latvija
© Girts Ragelis
Māris Sirmais is one of Latvia’s most significant conductors, a charismatic leader and a driving force in Latvian choral music. Under his more than 20 years of leadership, the State Choir LATVIJA has become one of Europe’s most well-known choirs. Sirmais has conducted concerts at the Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg; Koerner Hall, Toronto; the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, Moscow; Lincoln Center, New York; the Tonhalle, Zürich; the Vaslav Nijinsky Auditorium, Nantes; Stavanger Concert Hall; the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival; the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival; the Lockenhaus Festival; and others. He has collaborated closely with violinist Gidon Kremer, conductor Mariss Jansons, organist Iveta Apkalna, violist Maxim Rysanov, composers Giya Kancheli and Rodion Shchedrin, and many other world-class musicians and composers from around the world. Sirmais has conducted concerts with the Berlin Radio Choir, the MDR Leipzig Radio Choir, the Netherlands Chamber Choir and Netherlands Children’s Choir, Singapore’s ONE Chamber Choir, Šiauliai’s Polifonija, and other choirs worldwide. Sirmais performs regularly with almost all of Latvia’s professional orchestras, and has conducted ensembles such as Kremerata Baltica, Moscow’s Musica Viva Chamber Orchestra, Umeå Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Strings, the Evgeny Svetlanov State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia and others.
Sirmais was also the creator of the most vibrant symbols of Latvian choral culture, Youth Choir Kamēr…, for which he was Head Conductor from its founding in 1990 to 2012. He is also an active participant in the Song Festival amateur choir movement. Since 1998, he has been a Song Festival Chief Conductor, and he was the Artistic Director for the 2008 Song Festival Gala Concert. Sirmais teaches choral conducting at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music and sits on the juries of several international choral and choral conducting competitions. He also gives popular masterclasses.
Vocal-instrumental pieces and music by Latvian composers play a large role in Sirmais’ concert programmes. He has conducted such pieces as Poulenc’s Gloria and Stabat Mater, Pärt’s Credo and Te Deum, Kancheli’s Styx, Honneger’s A Christmas Cantata and Joan of Arc at the Stake, Tavener’s Svyati, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, John Adams’ Harmonium, Taneyev’s John of Damascus, Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms and many others. He actively commissions new pieces from Latvian composers and is a promoter of new choral music. Many pieces premiered by Sirmais have gone on to become choral classics sung by choirs worldwide. Sirmais has close, years-long professional relationships with composers Pēteris Vasks, Ēriks Ešenvalds, Rihards Dubra, Raimonds Tiguls and Raimonds Pauls. In anticipation of Latvia’s Centenary in 2018, the Latvian Composers for Latvia’s Centenary project, which was initiated by Sirmais, commissioned new pieces by more than 77 composers. Over three years and five concerts, the State Choir LATVIJA conducted by Sirmais premiered a vibrant array of new choral works, culminating in a grand finale concert on May 4th, 2018. In honour of this event, publisher Musica Baltica released a collection of these pieces.
Sirmais is a Bearer of the Order of the Three Stars, an honorary member of the Latvian Academy of Sciences, and the recipient of many titles and awards for his achievements in culture and for promoting the name of Latvia overseas.
The State Choir Latvija is one of Europe’s most well-known choirs, invited to collaborate with world-class conductors and orchestras, and requested at prestigious concert halls and festivals. The singers’ musical intelligence and skill makes this a musical unit that feels as at home in delicate a cappella choral music as in large-format performances with triple orchestra. Since 1997, the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the choir is Māris Sirmais, and the Executive Director is Māris Ošlejs.
The State Choir LATVIJA is a regular guest at one of the world’s most important concert halls: the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. The choir has performed the second and third symphonies of Gustav Mahler and György Ligeti’s Requiem alongside the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra and conductor Kent Nagano, and gave a solo performance in 2019 alongside organist Iveta Apkalna.
In 2020, the choir once again returned to the famous Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam to perform Igor Stravinsky’s opera-oratorio Oedipus Rex alongside the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. In 2019, the choir performed Ludwig van Beethoven’s Missa solemnis at Barcelona’s Palau de la Musica, Madrid’s National Music Auditorium and the Auditorio de Zaragoza under conductor Gianandrea Noseda. Similarly significant was the choir’s participation at Germany’s Ruhrtriennale, one of the world’s most ambitious and prestigious cross-genre festivals, where they sang Ligeti’s Requiem as part of a performance entitled Revolution.
The world’s leading classical music magazine, Gramophone, included the State Choir LATVIJA’s latest recording, Sempiternam: Choral Music by Rhona Clarke, in its May 2022 Editor’s Choice. Prominent music publication BBC Music Magazine said of the choir’s album Pēteris Vasks: Lūgšana/Prayer: “The State Choir LATVIJA’s sound is both passionate and refined.” Fragments of the album Aeternum, which features new works by Latvian composers, were broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune programme.
The choir turns 80 in 2022. The State Choir LATVIJA began its anniversary season with a performance of EJ NU EJ, Laura Jēkabsone’s chamber opera for children, in collaboration with Director Reinis Suhanovs, choreographer Elīna Gediņa and costume designer Kristīne Pasternaka. The chamber opera has already captured the hearts of children and the public, and continues to tour Latvia.
The State Choir LATVIJA is an internationally in-demand, stable and academic institution which has, during its years of operation, performed in the most prestigious concert halls and collaborated with the best conductors, orchestras and film and classical music recording companies worldwide.
