Armands Strazds

Who is Armands Strazds?

Armands Strazds is a Latvian political activist, education researcher, composer, record producer and software developer.

He studied composition with Gederts Ramans at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music and with Friedhelm Döhl at the Lübeck Academy of Music, where he also studied computer music with Dirk Reith. His PhD studies with Atis Kapenieks at Riga Technical University were on new learning technologies. He and Kapenieks have published several papers in the area.

Armands Strazds is the developer of the algorithmic composition systems, Digital Winds and Hymnica. In 2005, two of his compositions for theatre drama, Pulss and Es mīlēju viņu were broadcast on Latvian national radio.

Strazds is the creator of the Zime Project which was the central exhibit of the Latvia Pavilion at Expo 2000. Zimes, from the Latvian word for "sign", are coloured graphic patterns generated by the computer encryption of texts, pictures, or sounds. During the course of Expo 2000, 300,000 visitors to the Latvia Pavilion generated their personal zimes, including the President of Latvia, Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga.