The Girls Choir Riga of the Riga School and Youth Center is one of Latvia’s leading youth choirs and has been synonymous with the highest artistic quality for over four decades. The ensemble was founded in 1983 by Gunta Malevica; since 2020, Irīna Švarcbaha has served as its artistic director. The choir brings together around 80 singers aged 3 to 26, who are trained in three age-appropriate groups and undergo continuous musical development together. The choir’s repertoire includes, in particular, Latvian choral music by composers such as Ešenvalds, Kontauts, and Jančevskis, as well as international classical and contemporary works (including Handel, Bach, and Chilcott). Regular performances take the choir to renowned concert venues, including Riga Cathedral and the Latvian Philharmonic.
As a multi-award-winning choir, the Riga Girls’ Choir has achieved numerous successes in recent years, including a gold diploma and second place at the XIII School Festival of Youth Song and Dance (2025), victory in the youth choir category and a silver diploma at the international competition “Praga Cantat” (2023), as well as awards at the XXVII Latvian Song and Dance Festival. As early as 2017, the ensemble was honored with a gold medal at the Grand Prix of the European Choir Games. The Riga Girls’ Choir is also active internationally and serves as a cultural ambassador for Latvia. Concert tours have taken the ensemble to Germany, Italy, and Japan, among other places. In January 2026, the choir performed at the European Parliament in Brussels. Since 2019, it has also organized annual Lucia concerts in collaboration with the Swedish Embassy. In addition, the choir has released CDs and recordings for Latvian Radio.