The chief conductor since 2013 is Mārtiņš Ozoliņš who is also an associate professor at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music.

[6] The origins of the Latvian National Opera and Ballet stem back to 1782 when the Riga City Theatre (Rigaer Stadttheater) a.k.a.

Conrad Feige who staged productions not only in Riga but also in St. Petersburg, Reval (Tallinn) and Dorpat (Tartu), was invited to fill the posts of concert master and conductor.

Under Jurjāns, the Latvian Opera resumed its activities in Riga in January 1918, with a production of Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata and several operettas: Johann Strauss Jr's Die Fledermaus, Franz Lehár's The Merry Widow, Rudolf Dellinger's Don Cesar and Johann Strauss II's The Gypsy Baron (Der Zigeunerbaron).

The initiative of the Latvju opera originated in Dorpat in the society named Apgāda organized by lawyer Andrejs Frīdenbergs.

Organizational work continued in St Petersburg to where many Latvian artists had evacuated during the First World War.

On 15 September 1918, the opening concert took place and on 15 October 1918, Richard Wagner's The Flying Dutchman was performed, with Teodors Reiters as the conductor.

[8] On 19 November, The Flying Dutchman was performed without changing the decorations from the previous night, when the Declaration of Sovereignty of the Republic of Latvia was adopted under solemn circumstances.

After the Bolsheviks led by Pyotr Ivanovich Stuchka took power in early 1919 establishing Soviet rule in Latvia, Andrejs Upīts – Head of the Education Commissariat's Art Department – gave an order for Latvju opera to move to the former Stadttheater and the company did so on 23 January 1919.

An important role in the move was played by Teodors Reiters, chief conductor of Latvju opera since September 1918.

Until the end of the 1930s, 2 December was celebrated as the anniversary of the Latvian National Opera (LNO), but under the Soviet occupation, the date was 23 January.

Under the Nazi German occupation (1941–1944), it became the Riga Opera Theatre, only to revert to the name given in 1940 when Soviet troops re-occupied Latvia in 1945.

After the season finale with Giuseppe Verdi's Un ballo in maschera in 1990 reconstruction work was started on the building with a reopening in 1995.

Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic the Opera Theatre was closed and reopened multiple times in 2020 whilst making some productions available for online streaming.