Spice shopping center is creating a special exhibition dedicated to the chief conductors and leaders of the XXVII Latvian Song and XVII Dance Festival

Very soon, great Latvian choir songs will be resounding all over Latvia and dancers' steps will be rattling the ground - from July 1 to 9, Latvia will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Nationwide Song and Dance Festival. To mark the occasion, the Spice shopping center is preparing a spectacular exhibition in Esplanade Park, featuring portraits of all the festival's chief conductors and leaders, and running from July 3 to 9.

"We are truly proud to have had the opportunity to immortalize those leaders and chief conductors who have dedicated their lives to the celebration, creation and development of Latvia's cultural heritage. During the week of the Song and Dance Festival, we invite everyone to visit Esplanade Park where the Spice shopping center’s special exhibition will give everyone the opportunity to get a closer look at the portraits of these phenomenal personalities. The Spice shopping center is a supporter of patriotic and nationally important values, so we are looking forward to this celebration with special enthusiasm. It is even more delightful that there are people in the Spice team who are also participants of the Festival,” says Iveta Priedīte, Head of the Spice and Spice Home shopping centers.

The exhibition will be open from July 3 to 9 in Esplanade Park. It will feature more than 70 portraits of chief conductors, leaders and honorary leaders who have been celebrating the significance and values of Latvia's cultural heritage over the years. The exhibition will not only present these outstanding personalities in a photographic form, but will also include a short description of each personality, highlighting their contribution to the creation of the festival. In addition, the exhibition will include an impressive, stylized 3D installation of a folk costume skirt, which will further highlight the richness of Latvia’s heritage and invite every visitor to capture their emotions of the festival week.

The impressive skirt installation combines folk costumes from the four cultural regions of Latvia. In order to preserve the uniqueness of each region's folk costumes as closely as possible, the skirts of each region have been 3D scanned to preserve the unique patterns and tones of the folk costumes, and then printed on the fabric.

After the festival week, those who missed the exhibition in Esplanade Park will have the opportunity to see the portraits of the chief conductors and leaders at the Promenade of the Spice shopping center until the end of the summer. Both the exhibition and the portraits are a gift from the Spice shopping center to the Latvian National Culture Centre (LNCC) and will become the property of the LNCC once exhibition is over.

"Personalities shape events, excite us, give us their enthusiasm, ideas and strength, and drive us forward. The history of the Song Festival is full of personalities who have shaped our culture and social life. At Song and Dance Festival concerts, participants and spectators do not always see the leaders and chief conductors up close, and this will be a great opportunity to meet the creators of the tradition," says Daina Markova, Executive Director of the XXVII Latvian Song and XVII Dance Festival.

Traditionally, a large catalogue is produced for each the Nationwide Song and Dance Festival, in which every participant of the given Festival can find his or her name and more – this time, it will also include the portraits and descriptions of each personality featured at the exhibition.

The photo shoots of the chief conductors and leaders took place in the STYLE ROOM of the Spice" shopping center. In addition, interviews of honorary chief conductors, leaders and chief conductors were also held in the STYLE ROOM. The insightful and inspiring conversations are already partly live on the Song and Dance Festival's social media platforms, and more conversations with legends of Latvian choral music, brass bands and dance are coming soon.

Interviews of the honorary chief conductors, leaders and chief conductors are available here: https://www.youtube.com/@dziesmusvetkiLV/videos