STATE CHOIR LATVIJA AT THE BARYSHNIKOV ARTS CENTRE

Latvian National Choir

Conductor Māris SIRMAIS

The concert focuses on music created by Baltic composers – Uģis Prauliņš, Ēriks Ešenvalds, Gundega Šmite, Vytautas Miškinis, Vaclavas Augustinas and Arvo Pärt, as well as Eric Whitacre. The programme will also include two compositions from Latvian National Choir’s (also known as State Choir Latvija) new album Dzintara ceļš (Amber road) which features 12 songs with music written by Latvian composers and lyrics by renowned European poets. This project was part of the Riga 2014 European Capital of Culture programme.

The debut of the choir in USA took place in 2010 at the Lincoln Center during the White Light Festival in a joint project with the Icelandic band, Sigur Ros. The New York Timesdescribed the choir’s performance in several reviews as “exquisite, beautiful, and brilliant”.

Concert is a part of the public diplomacy and culture programme of the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.