Most of the musicians in Sinfonietta Riga have been in the orchestra since it was founded in 2006. They are young musicians, several of them students, but together they form a state chamber orchestra being one of a kind in all the Baltic States.

In fact, Sinfonietta Riga calls itself “a multi-functional laboratory”, performing music from the Baroque to the newest of Latvian avant-garde music and is always willing to engage in non-academic experiments and cross-over projects. This is popular among the audience, and Sinfonietta Riga can proudly report that the 500 seats in the concert hall are always sold out. Concerts are always a carefully chosen mix of new and old pieces ensuring that a concert with Sinfonietta Riga always “tells a story”.

Taking part in the NewAud project the Sinfonietta Riga engaged itself for the first time in a collaboration including both Eastern and Western Europe, and for sure one project focus of the ensemble was the search for new venues. For instance the Sinfonietta had a dream of exploring the River of Riga, which, in the words of artistic director Normunds Sne, “is not enough used for cultural events”.

Sinfonietta Riga shared the following New:Aud resources:

Reopening a long lost concert hall

Sinfonietta Rīga held a concert marking the reopening of an old concert hall, hidden from the public for more than 30 years. The concert hall is located at the Latvian Academy of Science, and the concert engaged young scientists in the project. With the multidisciplinary nature of the concert, and the venue being a Soviet era heritage, Sinfonietta Rīga's ambition was to attract a broad variety of audience groups: Academics, urban explorers and cultural heritage enthusiasts. This report describes the project and its results, pointing to the great promotional effect for the ensemble.

Twitter opera performed by #sinfoniettariga

Sinfonietta Rīga performed what is most likely the worlds first twitter opera, retelling a heated debate on the economic situation in the Baltic. With the relevant subject and contemporary format, the ensemble got a lot of attention from the media as well as new audiences. They aimed at engaging the audience through social media before, during and after the concert. This report describes the process and results of the project.

Acoustic experiments at the airport

Sinfonietta Rīga gave a concert at the old Spilve Airport, a half abandoned Soviet era heritage with neo-classical architecture and special acoustic qualities. The concert programme presented the premiere of a site specific composition by the young Latvian composer Kristaps Pētersons, Mastering of acoustics, which was performed simultaneously from 10 different spots in the building. This report describes the artistic intentions in mixing contemporary music and 20th century architecture, the process and results of the project.