Aira Birziņa

is associated professor of Choral Conducting at Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music, artistic director of three girls’ choirs and manager of the Riga Female Choir and Ogre District Choir. She is also producer and artistic director of the Ogre Music Festival and since 2003 chief conductor of the Latvian Song and Dance Festival, which unites more than 40.000 singers every five years. Additionally she is an active member in international choir competitions, in the Latvian Choir Conductors’ Council and in juries for new choir music and a speaker at conferences and in seminars. In 1999 she received an award by the Ministry of Culture, which was followed by another one in 2015 by the municipality of Riga and the bestowal of the highest order of the Republic of Latvia.