In a recent cultural column for The Arts Desk, writer Sebastian Scotney argues that Latvia’s capital is emerging as a dynamic hub for jazz music and audio manufacturing.
Scotney reported on the recent Riga Music Week, an event organized by Music Latvia that doubles as an industry conference and a concert showcase. During the sessions, the writer discovered the Imanta district of Riga, where the audio equipment company Radiotehnika was established in 1927. During Soviet times, the factory employed nearly 20,000 workers and supplied audio gear across the entire Soviet Union, according to the report.
Today, a new wave of entrepreneurs is reviving that manufacturing heritage through companies like Erica Synths and JZ Microphones. Scotney noted that while some local business owners remain frustrated by the technological stagnation under Soviet occupation, others embrace the deep technical expertise passed down through generations of local workers.
The high level of musicianship in Latvia stems directly from a specialist music school system that feeds students into the country’s primary conservatories. Indriķis Veitners, Head of Jazz at the national conservatoire, explained to The Arts Desk that this creates a tight-knit musical community where artists connect at an early age.
While classical music training in Latvia has a long-established global reputation—producing world-class artists such as Andris Nelsons, Kristina Blaumane, and Kristine Opolais—jazz education is relatively young. Jazz programs were established at the Riga Dome Choir School in 2003 and at the senior conservatoire in 2009.
To preserve and promote this growing history, Veitners recently edited a Latvian jazz “real book” titled Latviešu džeza tēmas/Latvian Jazz Tunes, published by Musica Baltica in 2025. The collection features compositions by 86 Latvian musicians.
“I really wanted the new generation of our students to know our own history. It is very strong. It is very rich. These are tunes we play,”
Indriķis Veitners told The Arts Desk.
Trombonist Vadims Dmitrijevs performed a complex set at the M/House of Jazz Club featuring asymmetrical time signatures, including a final number in an 11-beat meter.
Earlier in the program, 26-year-old bassist and composer Beāte Meirāne won a competition for musicians aged 18 to 30. Vocalists Santa Šillere and Julianna Tīruma also performed during the festival, backed by instrumentalists praised for their technical precision.