'Establishing a new classical music festival is a leap of faith': Riga Jurmala Festival CEO Zane Čulkstēna

The Riga Jurmala Music Festival is founded on philanthropy, both in terms of its financial structure and the motivations behind its creation. All of our founders are in some way connected to Latvia, whether that be by birth, heritage or through business links. Initially, we began with a handful of supporters, but since our inaugural festival in 2019, our supporter network has now grown to close to 20 supporters in addition to support received from grant competitions, municipality support and corporate support. 

We set out with an ambitious five-year plan, hoping to host an international audience share of 20%, growing this number each year. Our first year saw over 15,000 visitors from over 50 countries, 30% of whom were students and representatives from educational institutions. Of course, we couldn’t have anticipated the events of 2020, but our targets largely remain the same. As our 2021 festival opens, the team continue to navigate a changing festival landscape, having learned many valuable lessons from the last couple of years.

Establishing a new classical music festival is in many ways a leap of faith. Latvia is known on a domestic level for its music-making, and incredibly, this didn’t slip over the last 18 months. The cultural industry was one of the most active - and arguably most vocal - when the pandemic hit, and effective systems were put in place quickly in order to help those working in the arts and cultural sectors requiring income support. This was not only for those in the music industry; the Latvian National Museum of Art, which is largely government-funded, purchased a range of artworks from local artists by way of offering help during the most difficult months - by far the biggest financial purchase ever made by this institution.

In March 2019, when we first launched the festival, it felt almost too ambitious for a small country like Latvia to bring together four international orchestras and world-class artists. Our relative 'youth' offers agility and fresh perspectives that perhaps a more established festival would have long ago seen the benefit, and the arrival of such extreme circumstances in our first year of operation has forced us to adopt a degree of flexibility, leading to some amazing results. 

Recently we announced the formation of the Mariss Jansons Festival Orchestra, named in honour of one of Latvia’s finest conductors, which invited musicians from the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Concertgebouworkest, the Oslo Philharomonic Orchestra, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra to come together to perform for our opening weekend - one challenge of the pandemic which turned into something quite extraordinary, prompted by a last-minute cancellation by one of our returning orchestras.

Another of our founding aims was to support the growth of emerging talent, and in 2019 we began a partnership with the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music to establish a new educational programme, the Riga Jurmala Academy. 2020 presented its logistical difficulties in terms of getting performers and attendees to the Festival, so we created online masterclasses for students in Latvia and the Baltics in place of in-person classes. Happily, this year we return to ‘real life’ masterclasses throughout the Festival, with performers including András Schiff, Renaud Capuçon and Leif Ove Andsnes guiding young performers through advanced technique. 

For a country of fewer than two million people, our music-making is truly remarkable. Members of our Festival team, from accountants to administrative assistants, have all been touched by music. The Latvian government offer free music tuition to children up to the end of secondary school, and institutions across the country encourage group singing and collaboration through our many national festivals. The creative spirit of Latvia is central to our own festival, and we look forward to welcoming international visitors to our beautiful country again this year. 

Zane Čulkstēna is CEO of the Riga Jurmala Music Festival which this year runs until 5 September: https://riga-jurmala.com/