Raivis comes from Riga, Latvia. During primary and secondary school, he sang in a boys’ choir and this was his linking point with music, when, at the age of 12, in a concert performing an oratorio,  was so astonished by the sound of a symphony orchestra that he immediately applied to a music school. Raivis played the French horn for six years, and at the age of 18, switched to double bass. He won 1st prizes at Youth State competitions in Latvia on both instruments. Having interest in composition studies around that time, the renowned composer Pēteris Vasks became his mentor.

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Raivis was given an entrance scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London where he studied modern double bass with Graham Mitchell and Dominic Seldis, and baroque bass with Cecelia Bruggemeyer. He received coaching from many great bass players such as Matthew McDonalds, Joel Quarrington and Bozo Paradžik. In 2014 composed a double bass quintet which was performed in a public masterclass with Maxim Vengerov. In 2016 he took an exchange programme at CNSMD in Paris, to specialise in contemporary music with Nicolas Crosse.

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As a performer Raivis focuses on a broad range of music, starting from early baroque music on historically informed set up to contemporary music. Since 2017 he has joined Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique under Sir John Eliot Gardiner and have toured to such concert halls as Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, BBC Proms, Carnegie Hall, Berlin Philharmonie. Since then, He is a guest performer with Anima Eterna Brugge, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Ensemble 1700 and has recently joined Concerto Köln.

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In 2017, Raivis made several trips to Yeravan, to study with the Armenian composer Artur Avanesov, who has been an important mentor to his musical development. Afterwards, Wim Henderickx was his teacher for his Masters studies at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. Raivis's music has been performed in such festivals as New music festival Arēna, Latvian New Music Days and Baltic Music Days by such ensembles as Sinfonietta Rīga Wind quintet, Atomos Saxophone quartet and others. In 2021 Raivis's piece Sweeping memories was selected by Duo Ebano and performed in Grachtenfestival, Gaudeaumus and November Music festivals in the Netherlands.

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Since 2021 Raivis is a member of the Latvian Composers Union and is collaborating with musicians and ensembles throughout Europe, recent highlight includes participation at the 25th International Sacred Music Festival in Riga, with a premiere of his choir piece La Noche Oscura, that was performed by the State Choir of Latvia and Māris Sirmais.

 

Raivis currently lives in Berlin, Germany.