Celma-Kursiete, Līga (1978)

Biography   Works  

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Līga Celma-Kursiete was born on June 4th, 1978 in Jelgava. She studied at the Latvian Academy of Music, in the Music Education Department (1996–2000, bachelor’s degree) and composition with Pēteris Plakidis (2000–2004, bachelor’s degree, 2006–2007, master’s degree). She studied singing with Aina Bajāre (1997–2003). From 2005 to 2006, she continued her composition studies also at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague with Gilius van Bergeik and at the Royal Danish Academy of Music with Bent Sørensen.

As of 1997, she works as a music teacher and as the conductor of the girls’ choir Spīgo at the Jelgava 4th secondary school. She sang in the youth choir Kamēr… (1997–2001), she was the leader and singer of the group Māsas, and she sang the soprano solo in the ballet performance of Butterfly Valley by Gunner Møller Pedersen (Denmark 2001, 2003), and performend in the urban folk group Gosti (2006–2008).

Līga Celma-Kursiete was awarded the main Crystal Rose prize at the Dmitri Kabalevsky music teachers’ competition (Moscow, 2002), third place in the composition competition organised by the Latvian military orchestra (2003), and the girls’ choir Spīgo, directed by Līga Celma-Kursiete, was victorious in competitions in Latvia, Estonia, Finland, the Netherlands, Spain, Austria, and Italy.