I was born in Riga, Latvia - in 1996. My family was always deeply connected to music, and I inherited an innate drive toward creating sounds. I grew up listening to Pat Metheny, dancing to Yes and Genesis, and enjoying long family road trips with various ECM recordings providing the musical backdrop.
I started my piano lessons aged 6. At first, exploring the world of classical music and adding little bits of improvisation when the pieces I had to study bored me. One of my best teachers was my grandmother - Vija Cīrule, who showed me the fun of music making and the possibility of finding unique self-expression within it.
Two of my greatest teachers have been Raimonds Petrauskis and Soren Moller, both broadening my view on music. They always inspired me to compose and look past the obvious. I finished my music education at the Royal Academy of Music in Aalborg, Denmark, where I met two of my closest collaborators - Albert Reinholdt Østergaard (DK) and Federico Nelson Fioravanti (ITA).
Performing both in Latvia and abroad, I've been extremely lucky to cross paths with some of the greatest musicians: Mark Dresser (US), Pablo Held (GER), Ainārs Rubiķis, Andrejs Osokins, Arta Jēkabsone, Beāte Zviedre, Julien Masmondet (FR), Olga Dreģe, Matīss Čudars, and others.
My music has always been in between genres and idioms. I've never fully identified with one music direction, so I follow my ear wherever my interests lead. I've recorded two full-length albums as a leader: "Ainavisti" and "Aisma" written for unconventional ensembles. Besides my own projects - I also compose and arrange music for various ensembles and occasions. Recently I've been collaborating with bass player and composer Jānis Rubiks, with whom we've written and arranged music for Jazz Trio and the Latvian National Symphony orchestra.
In 2020, I was nominated for “Young Musician of the Year” in the Latvian Great Music Award. My wife Kristīne Cīrule and I started our own singer-songwriter project "Dream Teller" where we explore the possibilities for stretching music and lyrics in an indie-folk idiom. In 2022, we released our debut album "A Dream We Didn't Know About".
As of 2022, I'm the host of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra's podcast where I interview musicians, composers, conductors, and various other creative people in Latvia. I’m also the curator for a concert-series “Atmosfēras” in concerthall “Gors”, where I invite various composers/improvisers to share their craft (Pablo Held, Līva Dumpe, Sam Amidon, Fuensanta Mendez)
