This week, on November 4 and 5, at the Tallinn street quarter the second Riga Music Week will take place. Latvian Music Information Centre (LMIC) will organize the Young Baltic Jazz Artist competition finals and will host a panel discussion about creating a jazz community with experts from Norway, Greece and Spain. LMIC will also be a part of the Riga Music Week “Music Bazaar”, offering the National recording company SKANi albums and informing about current issues of the classical and jazz industry.
For the third year in a row the Latvian Music Information Centre is organizing a competition for the young jazz musicians from Baltic countries, with the finals taking place on November 4th at 11:00 during the Riga Music Week at the Ezītis Miglā of the Tallinn Street quarter. This year, LMIC received many applications from young artists from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia – and seven bands will compete in the finals. Special guest – a winner of the 2025 competition Sniedze Kārkliņa, who will present her new EP that was made possible thanks to the grant awarded through the competition.
The competition is open to soloists and ensembles aged 30 and under. All finalists will be invited to attend the professional programme and showcase concerts of Riga Music Week free of charge. The competition winner will receive a €1,000 grant for creating a professional studio recording. The competition is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia; a special prize (Black Hole BH2 microphone) presented by the Latvian manufacturer JZ Microphones.
The jury of the competition – Ragnhild Menes, Chair of Norsk jazzforum and head of communication at Bærum Kulturhus, Aggelos Kleitsikas, artistic director of Athens Jazz Festival and marketing manager at Technopolis City Of Athens, Pablo Mazuecos Nievas, founder and president of Clasijazz, president of the Association of Big Bands of Spain and Head of the Modern Music and Jazz Department at the University of Almería, as well as Iro Graonidou, musician and international project coordinator at Clasijazz. The competition will also be a showcase – the international jury will identify emerging talent for potential inclusion in their respective cultural venues, festivals or programmes.
The following day, on 5 November at 12:45, all the aforementioned experts will come together for a panel discussion moderated by Aleksandra Line, project manager at LMIC, at the Angārs Atmosphere venue. The discussion “Building a jazz scene, not just a programme. How to stop networking and start building long-lasting relationships” will focus on the questions “What makes a jazz scene stronger? What happens behind the scenes? If you have a small jazz community and limited resources, what should you do first? What makes a promoter invite someone from a small or unfamiliar jazz market? What can a Latvian artist do to become more visible? What is one thing jazz professionals should start doing differently tomorrow?”
On both November 4 and 5 the Latvian Music Information Centre will also be present at the “Music Bazaar” organized by the Riga Music Week. LMIC will offer visitors insights into the latest developments at the organisation and SKANi, Latvia’s national record label, as well as the opportunity to purchase classical and contemporary music albums by Latvian composers and performers.