The Mixed Choir of Riga Cathedral Choir School was founded in 1996. It comprises approximately fifty conducting and vocal-class students, including a number of boys whose voices have broken. The purpose of the Choir is to provide agency for students to support their classmates in taking their first steps in the conducting profession, with graduates of the class often going on to become vocalists and conductors of Latvia’s professional choirs and vocal ensembles.

The Choir regularly participates in nationwide festivals in collaboration with the Lutheran Cathedral of Latvia’s capital, the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music, Latvia’s Ministry of Culture, and Riga City Council, and plays a vital role in developing song-festival repertoire. The Choir occasionally participates in environmental action and delves into heavy-metal music, as was the case when they served as the warm-up group for a 2012 Rammstein concert in Riga.

The Choir has been ably led by Jurģis Cābulis since 2016, during which time it has significantly expanded the scope of its activities. In 2017, at the 31st International Choir Competition ‘Praga Cantat’, it won the Grand Prix, as well as first place in the ‘sacred music’ and ‘mixed choir’ categories. At this same competition the Choir also won a special award for outstanding vocal culture and for their performance of a composition by Jēkabs Jančevskis, while Jurģis Cābulis attained an award in conducting excellence.

Since 2017 the Choir has participated in several productions at the Latvian National Opera including Wagner’s Tannhäuser and Der fliegende Holländer, and Imants Kalniņš’s Spēlēju, dancoju.

In the autumn of 2018, the Riga Cathedral School Mixed Choir received the Grand Prix, the audience award and the award for best performance of an obligatory composition (Andris Dzenītis’ The Drop) at the third International Baltic Sea Choir Competition.

This recording of Jēkabs Jančevskis’ choral works comes into being at a high-water mark in the life of the choir.