Not at a piano, but in postwar Riga: Juris Karlsons’s biography began on 19 August 1948. He first studied at the Riga Choreography School, then at the Emīls Dārziņš Music School and in Jānis Ivanovs’s composition class at the conservatoire. Later Karlsons worked as a sound engineer for Latvian Radio and television, led sound work at the Daile Theatre, served as JVLMA rector from 1990 to 2007, and wrote for the stage, including the ballets Sidraba šķidrauts and Karlsons lido.

Karlsons entered Latvian art music at a time when Soviet cultural institutions provided professional infrastructure while also imposing ideological limits. After 1990, his work became tied to the reshaping of music education in independent Latvia and to repertoire life in theatres and concert halls.