Author: Aira Birzina

Aira Birziņa (1968) graduated from the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music, Bachelor's degree in the class of Edgars Račevskis and Ivars Bērziņš (1992), Master's degree in the class of Imants Kokars (1995). Since 1997 she has been the conductor of the Ogre Women's Choir "Rasa", and since 2000 she has been conducting both the Women's Choir "Dzintars" and the Riga Dome Choir School Girls' Choir. Since 2003 she has been the chief conductor of the Ogre district choirs and the artistic director of the Ogre Music Festival. She has been the chief conductor of the XXIII and XXIV Latvian Song Festivals, the initiator and active organiser of several important choral music festivals and educational events. She has worked at the Department of Conducting and Vocal Pedagogy at the Riga Academy of Pedagogy and Educational Management, since 2006 she has been an assistant professor at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music, and since 2011 - an associate professor of choral conducting. Together with the choirs "Ausma", "Dzintars" and the Riga Dome Choir School Girls' Choir she has won several important international choir competitions. As a lecturer she has conducted seminars, courses, master classes, as an expert she has served on various juries of Latvian choirs, vocal ensembles and young choir competitions, as well as on juries of international choir competitions. She has been a member of the Council of the choir sector at the Centre for Culture and Intangible Heritage for several years.