Farewell to Edgars Račevskas, the Honorary Chief Conductor of the General Latvian Song and Dance Festival, will take place at the Torņkalns Church in Riga on February 23 from 11 am.
–
According to Linda Ertmane, a representative of the Latvian National Cultural Center (LNKC), a memorial service will take place after the farewell ceremony. The artist will be buried in Baltezers Cemetery.
She said that the maestro was a multiple chief conductor of the General Latvian Song and Dance Festival, a long-time chief conductor of the Tukums and Alūksne district choirs, and founded and conducted several amateur choirs known in Latvia and of high artistic value – Gaudeamus, Vanema and Sonore. He was the initiator of important cultural and historical events – he established the tradition of Jāzeps Vītols Song Days in Gaujiena.
From the 1990s, he was active in the field of composition, and was an honorary member of the Latvian Composers’ Union. The contribution of Rachevsky’s working life to Latvian culture is also significant in pedagogical activity and the development of professional choir art. He has worked for more than thirty years at the Latvian State Conservatory, now the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music. From 1963 to 1986 he was the artistic director of the Latvian Radio Choir.
Latvian choral music legend, multiple chief conductor of the Song Festival, maestro Edgars Račevskis passed away in the first half of the week, at the age of 85.
–
