The Latvian National Opera and Ballet has received a significant donation. A bequest from the estate of Professor Anita Rožlapa (1939–2024) honors the memory of her father, the renowned Latvian stage designer Pēteris Rožlapa (1906–1991). This week, the Anita Rozlapa Revocable Trust (USA) transferred the remaining portion of the inheritance – USD 700,000 – to the Latvian National Opera and Ballet, thus completing an exceptional gift to Latvian culture. This amount supplements the previously donated USD 600,000, as well as paintings created by Pēteris Rožlapa during his years in exile. As a result, the total value of the donation – USD 1.3 million – represents the largest contribution in the history of the Latvian National Opera and Ballet.

“Thanks to the generous support of the Rožlapa family, the Latvian National Opera and Ballet was able to realize several important initiatives already last year, aimed both at the future and at preserving memory,” says Sandis Voldiņš, Chairman of the Board of the Latvian National Opera and Ballet. “The Elīna Garanča. Young Baltic Voices programme for young vocalists has been established, and this autumn four talented young singers from the Baltic states will begin their training. In the near future, visitors to the Latvian National Opera and Ballet will also have the opportunity to see part of Pēteris Rožlapa’s remarkable collection of paintings, thus bringing back to Latvia the artistic legacy he created while in exile.”

Last autumn, in accordance with the family’s final wishes, the Latvian National Opera and Ballet laid the ashes of the Rožlapa family to rest at Kalna Cemetery in Sarkandaugava. A monument created by sculptor Bruno Strautiņš has been installed at the family grave, symbolically completing the Rožlapa family’s journey of return to their homeland.

Pēteris Rožlapa began his career at the Latvian National Opera in 1925 as an assistant to the distinguished stage and costume designer Ludolfs Liberts. In 1935, in recognition of his exceptional talent, Rožlapa was appointed the opera’s chief stage designer, creating monumental sets and costumes for operas, ballets, and operettas. Among the most notable productions for which he designed the stage and costume concepts are Alfrēds Kalniņš’s opera Baņuta (1937, 1941), Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida (1938), Jānis Kalniņš’s ballet Autumn (1938), Jacques Offenbach’s opera Les contes d’Hoffmann (1938), Giuseppe Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera (1939), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Magic Flute (1940), Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake (1941), Richard Wagner’s opera Tannhäuser (1942), Jānis Kalniņš’s opera Hamlet (1943), and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fidelio (1944).

In 1944, Pēteris Rožlapa was forced into exile together with his wife Vilma and daughter Anita, spending the second half of his life in the United States.

The estate administrator, Aaron McCrea, contacted the Latvian National Opera and Ballet in the summer of 2024, conveying Anita Rožlapa’s wish that her father’s artistic legacy return to his homeland and enrich Latvia’s cultural landscape. The Latvian National Opera and Ballet expresses its deep appreciation for the opportunity to honor the memory of Pēteris Rožlapa.