Latvian National Opera and Ballet (LNOB) is magnificent 19th-century, neo-classical venue and home for local theater, opera and ballet companies as well as international performing artists located right in the heard of the city.
The LNO Company was founded soon after independence was declared on the 18th of November, 1918, and in the 1920s the opera company was joined by the first professional Latvian ballet ensemble. The LNOB occupies a stately neo-classical style building in Riga, originally constructed as the Riga German Theatre in 1863.
In the course of a season that runs from September to June the LNOB performs more than 200 performances, staging on average six new productions every season of both opera and ballet. The LNOB today is a repertoire theatre.
While paying tribute to the traditional values of the classical and Romantic operas and ballets that are the cornerstones of its repertoire, the LNOB continually strives to seek contemporary forms of expression.
The LNO stage regularly resounds with successful productions of modern operatic and ballet masterpieces, children’s performances, and original Latvian works.
The LNOB is open to the world: the company has an active touring schedule with many superb guest singers, conductors, choreographers and directors frequently gracing the LNO stage. In recent seasons, the LNOB has been touring to the Hong Kong Festival, the Bordeaux Opera, the Catania Opera, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, the Luxembourg Opera, the Dalhalla Festival in Sweden, to Mexico. The LNO is a place where talent is born – popular soloists like Elīna Garanča, Kristine Opolais, Marina Rebeka, Maija Kovaļevska, Inese Galante, Aleksandrs Antoņenko and Egils Silins started their careers at the LNO.