Vaivods, Juris (1966)
Biography Works
Juris Vaivods was born on March
29th, 1966 in the Preiļi region at
the Vanagi House. He finished the
Līvāni School of Music specializing in
accordion (1976–1981, Paulis Šalajevs) and choir conducting at the
Daugavpils College of Music (1981–1985, Vanda Drobiševska). He
studied choir conducting at the Latvian Academy of Music with
Edgars Račevskis (1985–1992), receiving his Bachelor’s degree, and
with Imants Kokars (1992–1994), receiving his Master’s degree.
While at the Latvian Academy of Music, he studied composition with
Pauls Dambis and Pēteris Plakidis. He trained in masterclasses at
the Bach Academy of Music (Germany) and the conducting masterclass
of Kåre Hanken (Norway).
Studying in Daugavpils, he founded the Daugavpils band,
played in the Wind Orchestra Daugava,
sang in the
choirs Daugava and Latgale.
Studying at the Latvian Academy of Music, he formed the
choir Akadēmiskais Vanadziņš, the men’s
vocal group Grazia con figurazia. In 1988, he
founded the Riga city group Usma. He
worked as the accompanist for the Riga Dome Boy’s Choir
(1992–1993), he was the artistic director and principal conductor
of the chamber
choir Versija (1993–1997) and the
men’s choir Dziedonis (1992–1998). As of 1997, he has been working
as the director of the music department at the Dailes
Theatre.
He has conducted vocal ensemble masterclasses at the
international Latvian young musicians’ camps in Jaungulbene (1994)
and Ogre (1996, 1998). With the chamber
choir Versija, he participated in
international competitions, festivals, and forums in Australia,
Germany, France, Italy, Poland, and Latvia (1994–1997), with the
group Usma he performed in Malaysia
and Singapore (1988). Under the direction of Juris Vaivods, much
Latvian choir music was premiered and recorded at Latvian Radio. He
recorded a CD at the French record company JADE.
He was the Riga 800 artistic
director of the festival zone Rīga dzied (Riga
Sings) and was the musical director of
the Rīga dejo (Riga Dances) zone.
He was the musical director of the dance festival and dance
performance Četri meti (Four
Sketches) (2001), artistic director of the XXIII
All Song Festival Youth Choir concert, and at the international
regatta sailing event Sapņo līdzi vējam (Dream With
the Wind) (2003), as well as the musical director
of the concert Mēs – Eiropā (We – in
Europe) (2004).
Many folksong arrangements by Juris Vaivods have been
performed at Latvian song festivals, the composer has received
awards also at the festival choir song competition
(Aizalaida sauļeite (The Sun
Hid) (1993), Rīgas dziesmas (Songs
of Riga) (1998)). He received the Theatre Award for
Best Music Author for the music for the theatre productions
of Precības (Wedding) (2001)
andRaudupiete (2003).