Chief Conductor and Artistic Director – Valdis Butāns

Valdis Butāns, Chief conductor and artistic director of Orchestra RIGA, has led four saturated and dynamic concert-seasons with the orchestra. Memorable are his conducting programs such as Mercury on the Moon, Celebrating Ella Fitzgerald, Tango-Flamenco-Jazz and a number of new compositions by Latvian composers, including oratorio Time Of Daybreak by Imants Kalniņš, Selga Mence’s oratorio Winds of Ages, Dona nobis pacem by Pēteris Vasks, Caravan by Andris Sējāns.

Valdis Butāns graduated from the Department of Orchestral Conducting at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music with MA degree. In 2005/2006 he improved his orchestral conducting skills at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts (Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien) with Prof. Uroš Lajovic. Valdis Butāns was the assistant of conductor Karel Mark Chichon at the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra 2010-2012 and the German Radio Philharmonic Saarbrucken-Kaiserslautern in season 2012/2013.

Butāns has received a Riga City Council Education, Culture and Sports Department’s annual award in culture – White Sparrow – for successful work and festival Three Stars in 2017.