PHOTO: On the birthday of Andrejs Žagars, people gather in Cēsis to watch the documentary "Žagari"

The documentary premiered on the day when Andrejs Žagars turned 61 years old.

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The author of the screenplay is Henrieta Verhoustinska, the director is Zita Kaminska. The film was made by LTV team – director Kaminska, screenwriter Verhoustinska, main cameraman Uvis Burjāns, sound director Diāna Pāvilsone, editing director Māris Martušs, producers – Ieva Rozentāle, Artis Dobrovoļskis.

At his age of 60, Žagars left on February 26. On March 4, he spent the last time at the Latvian National Opera and Ballet.

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Žagars was born on October 16, 1958. From 1996 to 2013, he was the director of the Latvian National Opera. In June 2017, he was elected a deputy of the Riga City Council from the party “Latvia’s Development”, which also included a board member.

In 1996, Žagars was appointed director of the Latvian National Opera and Ballet (LNOB) and held this position until September 2013. In 2002, he made his debut at the Dalhalla Opera Festival as an opera director with Richard Wagner’s opera The Wandering Dutchman, and in 2003 he staged the same opera at the National Opera. He has staged operas both in Latvia and abroad, and has also participated in various festivals with productions. In 2015, he resumed his work at the Daile Theater as a director.

At the Daile Theater, Žagars has played Don Peter in William Shakespeare’s play “Big Crackle, Little Wool”, Mercucio in “Romeo and Juliet”, Florindo Aretuzi in “The Servant of Two Lords”, Ermanis in “Vella kalpos”, Zostēviņš

Also at the Daile Theater, Žagars has staged “Three Sisters” and “Elephant’s Song”, and at the LNOB – “Lucia di Lammermoor”, “Eugene Onegin”, “Don Juan”, “Carmen”, “Traviata” and others. Lithuanian, Bologna and Budapest operas, Turkish State Opera and Ballet Theater, Prague and Slovak National Theaters, as well as elsewhere.

During his career, Žagars has also starred in many films of the Riga Film Studio, including the film “Rocky Road” (1983) shot by Rolands Kalniņš, “Long Road in the Dunes” by Alois Brencs (1981), Arvīds Krieva’s “Photography with a Woman and a Wild Boar” (1987), and Anna Viduleja’s “Homo Novus” (2018).

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In 2001, Žagar received the Medal of the French National Legion of Honor “Médaille du Commandeur de la Légion d’honneur”, and in 2002 the Order of the Three Stars. Žagars also received the Order of the Royal Kingdom of the Netherlands in 2006, and in 2011 – the International Star “Baltic Star” for the development and strengthening of humanitarian relations in the Baltic States, as well as the Cross of the Lithuanian Order of Merit. In 2012, Žagars was awarded the Estonian President’s Award – the third-class Cross of the Land of Mara. In 2010, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev awarded Žagar the Order of Friendship for strengthening cultural ties between Russia and Latvia.

In 2016, he founded the Andrejs Žagars Cultural Support and Development Fund, which aims to promote and develop cultural projects, especially in the music and art sectors. Žagars also works as the artistic director of the Baltic Music Seasons Foundation, which started operating in 2017. He has also been a member of the association “Time for Culture” and has been involved in the work of the Latvian National Opera Foundation.