Latvian Theater of Opera and Ballet

(full name, Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet of the Latvian SSR), the leading Latvian musical theater. Founded in Riga in 1919 from the Latvian Opera (1913–15, 1918) under the name Opera of Soviet Latvia (from late 1919 to 1940 it was called the Latvian National Opera). It received its present name in 1940.

The first Latvian operas produced at the Latvian Theater of Opera and Ballet were Banuta by Alfreds Kalniņš (1920) and Fire and the Night by Jānis Mediņš (1921); the first Latvian ballet, The Triumph of Love by Jānis Mediņš, was staged in 1935. Among the best productions of Soviet national operas have been To a New Shore (1955) and Green Mill (1958) by M. Zariņš, Golden Steed by Žilinskis (1965), Audrin̮i by Grāvītis (1965), and Princess Gundega by Skulte (1971) and the ballets Staburadze by A. Kalniņš (1943; revised version, 1958), Laima by Lepin (1947), The Sakta of Freedom by Skulte (1950; State Prize of the USSR, 1951; revised version, 1955), Rigonda by Grīnblats (1959), The Rose of Turaida by Kepītis (1966), Sprīdītis by Žilinskis (1968), and The Gold of the Incas by Barskov (1969). There are also world classics in the repertoire, including Boris Godunov by Mussorgsky (State Prize of the USSR, 1950) and Die Walküre by Wagner, as well as works by Soviet composers from the other Union republics (The Fires of Revenge by E. Kapp, War and Peace by Prokofiev, Katerina Izmailova by Shostakovich, The Taming of the Shrew by Shebalin, Cinderella by Prokofiev, and Spartacus by Khachaturian). A number of Russian, Italian, and German operas have been staged in their original languages.

Among the artists who have worked at the theater at various times are the singers M. Brehmane-Ŝtengele, V. Krampe, A. Ludiņa, E. Pakule, R. Bērziņa, and A. Kaktiņš; the ballet soloists M. Liepa and A. Priede; the conductors J. Mediņš, E. Kupers, L. Blehs, L. Vīgners, E. Tone, and A. Jansons; the producer P. I. Mel’nikov; and the choreographers A. A. Fedorova, O. Lemanis, E. Tangijeva-Birzniece, and E. Čanga. As of 1973, the troupe included the following: among singers People’s Artist of the USSR Ž. Heine-Vāgnere and A. Frīnbergs and People’s Artists of the Latvian SSR R. Frīnberga, P. Grā-velis, A. Daškovs, K. Zariņš, and M. Fišers; and among ballet soloists, People’s Artist of the USSR V. Vilciņa and People’s Artist of the Latvian SSR H. Ritenbergs; as well as Honored Art Worker of the Latvian SSR R. Glāzups (principal conductor), People’s Artist of the Latvian SSR K. Liepa (chief producer), People’s Artist of the Latvian SSR J. Zariņš (producer), People’s Artist of the Latvian SSR A. Lembergs (principal choreographer), and People’s Artist of the Latvian SSR A. Lapins (artist). The theater was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor in 1956.