Riga Early Music Centre

Rīgas Senās Mūzikas Centrs

Teaching, diffusion and promotion of early music are their priorities!

RIGA EARLY MUSIC CENTRE is a leading organizer of early music activities – festivals, concerts, residences – in the Baltic States with a wide range of international cooperation (to mention – long-term cooperation as partner and Baltic States representative in project EEEMERGING and EEEMERGING+, supported by Creative Europe). 

Over the past 30 years, under the guidance of conductor Māris Kupčs, who is researcher of early music, head of the Early Music Department of the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music and director of the Riga Early Music Centre, has become an integral part of Latvian culture. The organisation brings together professional musicians who are interested in playing early music based on historical traditions and using period instruments or their copies, with the main aim of developing and popularizing this trend as well as exploring Baltic culture and music heritage and playing it internationally.

In 2010, conductor Māris Kupčs founded the baroque choir Collegium Choro Musici Riga, and in 2005 – baroque orchestra Collegium Musicum Riga. Its name comes from the orchestra, which was performing in Riga in the 17th century. The Riga Early Music Centre is umbrella also for many other artists and ensembles – historical woodwind ensemble Stadt-Hautboisten Riga, early music ensemble Neymann Ensemble, soloists Elīna Šimkus, Ilze Grēvele-Skaraine, Ansis Bētiņš, Maija Klaviņa, Gertruda Jerjomenko, Edgars Skarbulis, Monta Martinsone and others. Together they represent baroque opera company that creates opera productions in historical staging. One of the last opera productions – “Stories of Clorinda, Jephte and Ismène” received splendid critiques from St. Petersburg Chamber Opera in Russia where it was performed in October, 2019.

More Than 50 Concerts and Events

Throughout the year local and abroad audiences are welcome in more than 50 concerts and events organised by Riga Early Music Centre and supporting partners as well as three early music festivals in Latvia during the summer – Early Music Festival “Vivat Curlandia!” (Bauska), that is dedicated to the medieval, renaissance and early baroque music, Riga Historical Music and Dance Festival and since 2019 – festival “Music of the Centuries” (“Gadsimtu mūzika” in Daugavpils).

Early music performers are enthusiastic about giving to Latvian and abroad listeners the opportunity to enjoy music that, thanks to period instruments and musicians who are early music researchers, has a completely different value – music becomes “pure” from unfounded stereotypes and misinterpretations, music acquires the splendour and subtlety of a particular historical period.

the people who make events of the Riga Early Music Centre happen

Riga Early Music Centre TEAM

MĀRIS KUPČS

director & producer

LAURA ŠAROVA

head of project department & producer

AIJA DIMZA

project manager