Founded in 1940, the Latvian Radio Choir is a unique, award-winning collective of professional singers that offers an extraordinarily wide repertoire to its audience. The Latvian Radio Choir is also like a laboratory of creative discovery in the hands of young composers, encouraging them to feel and explore the boundaries of classical vocal singing. Since 1992, it is led by the artistic director and principal conductor Sigvards Kļava and conductor Kaspars Putniņš.
The Latvian Radio Choir has participated in the recording of the album of Arvo Pärt’s Adam’s Lament that received the prestigious Grammy music award. The choir is a repeat winner of the highest national award for achievements in professional music in Latvia – the Grand Music Award, as well as the winner of the Republic of Latvia Cabinet of Ministers Award. The choir’s album with Peter Tchaikovsky’s music Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. Nine Sacred Choruses (Ondine) won the 2020 International Classical Music Award as the best choral work and was also nominated for the BBC Music Magazine award.
The Latvian Radio Choir has been a guest in the most prominent European concert venues, including the Concertgebouw and Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, and the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and Cité de la Musique in Paris. The choir has collaborated with the Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall, it has performed at the Duke University Chapel, Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Berlin Concert Hall, and has become the first vocal collective to perform at the new Hague concert venue Amere.
The choir has been a guest at several prestigious music festivals, including the BBC Proms, the Salzburg festival, the Lucerne Festival, OzAsia Festival in Australia and the Spring Arts Festival in Monte Carlo, among others. The choir earned a lot of acclaim in North America, participating in the White Light Festival in the U.S. and Soundstreams in Canada.
Ondine, Hyperion Records, Deutsche Grammophon, ECM, BIS, Naïve, Prima Classica and Skani recording labels regularly produce new Latvian Radio Choir albums, in collaboration with such great conductors as Heinz Holliger, Riccardo Muti, Riccardo Chailly, Gustavo Dudamel, Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Peter Phillips. The choir has worked with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble Contrechamps, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Camerata Salzburg, and Concerto Copenhagen.
