An Interview with Rihards Dubra in Riga

Rihards Dubra & Michael Thallium. Riga, May 2014.

I was recently in Latvia and I had the chance to meet the Latvian composer Rihards Dubra. From the very first moment I got in touch with him via email, I immediately knew that he was a very approachable person, very simple. And when we actually met, one of my first impressions was that Rihards Dubra is a very humane composer. Actually, when I said to him that I was surprised to find such an affable composer —unfortunately, in the world of concert music, you often find plenty of arrogant people, full of themselves—, he replied: “You know, I’ve grown up in the countryside, among cows.” Then he told me a funny anecdote. It happened to him when he went to the United States for the premiere of one of his works. Before the concert started, one of those typical American “cowboys” with hat and all, sat down next to him and greeted him. The cowboy started to read the program. Several works from different composers would be played, one of them, Dubra’s. Then the American cowboy started to make comments about the different composers and works until he realised that there was one composer he had never heard of. Then he asked Dubra: ”You know, this guy, this ‘Richard’ Dubra, is he alive?” Rihards smiled and answered: “I’m afraid so, because it’s me”. Surprised and maybe a little bit embarrassed, the cowboy remained silent for the rest of the concert. At the end of the concert, he gave Rihards a little nudge and, as if he would be revealing a little secret, he said: “You know, your work, I liked it the most!”.

By the time I met Rihards Dubra in Riga (May 2014), he told me he was just about to finish his second symphony and very soon he could fulfill one of his dreams: to write his first opera. You can see and listen to him on the next video. With this interview, I hope to contribute to disseminate Dubra’s work and Latvian music in general.