page_title: Music of Latvia
section_title: Classical music
hierarchical_section_title: Music of Latvia / Classical music
caption_attribution_description: English: Latvian Song Festival 2008 -RigaLatviešu: Dziesmu svētki 2008. Rīga
context_page_description: Traditional Latvian music is often set to traditional poetry called dainas, featuring pre-Christian themes and legends, drone vocal styles and Baltic psaltery.
context_section_description: Choir traditions are very strong in Latvia. Alongside many professional choirs, there are tens of thousands of Latvians who are part of different amateur choirs. Once every five years the Latvian National Song and Dance Festival takes place with around 20,000 singers taking part in it.
  The 2014 World Choir Games took place in Riga.
  This year (2019) Latvia hosts the inaugural Riga Jurmala Music Festival, a new festival in which world-famous orchestras and conductors perform across four weekends during the summer. The festival takes place at the Latvian National Opera, the Great Guild, and the Great and Small Halls of the Dzintari Concert Hall. This year features the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Russian National Orchestra.
  Internationally-famous Latvian musicians include conductors Arvid Jansons and his son Mariss Jansons, violinist Gidon Kremer, cellist Mischa Maisky, and soprano Kristīne Opolais.
caption: 2008 Latvian Song and Dance Festival
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "2841", "Image ImageLength": "1905", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 400D DIGITAL", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2012:09:26 10:37:36", "Image Artist": "Picasa 2.7", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "320", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1190", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "9605", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/30", "EXIF FNumber": "9/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "1600", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:07:11 23:28:05", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:07:11 23:28:05", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "160789/32768", "EXIF ApertureValue": "1111/256", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "1/3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "25", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2813", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1877", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1064", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "2816000/877", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "940000/291", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "3c01254a5d1cd50a3b6ccf305d8109fa"}