Rihards Zalupe (1983) /marimba/percussion/ finished his Master degree at the J.Vitols Latvian Music Academy with assoc.prof. E.Saksons. Also he was Socrates Erasmus student at the Hochschule for Musik Cologne with professor Carlos Tarcha. Rihards Zalupe studied marimba`s playing and composition with world-famous Keiko Abe, also participated in the International Katarzyna Mycka marimba masterclasses with Katarzyna Mycka, Robert Van Sice, Eric Sammut. Since 2006 R. Zalupe has been a percussionist in the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, also as a lecturer in the J.Vitols Latvian Music Academy. Percussionist performed solo with Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, State Chamber Orchestra “Sinfonietta Rīga”, Professional Brass Band “Rīga”, orchestra “Sinfonia Concertante”, Vidzeme`s Chamber Orchestra. In 2008 R.Zalupe recorded his first CD “Marimba Dance”, in album are heard his compositions for marimba solo, marimba and piano, as well as for choir. R.Zaļupe and the album “Marimba Dance” received the Latvian Music Records Award 2008 in the category “The debut of the year”.