Latvian composer Jazeps Vitols (Joseph Wihtol, 1863-1948) played an important role in integrating Latvian music with that of the wider world during the Late Romantic Period and into the 20th Century. His influence upon Latvian music was so great that the Latvian Conservatory of Music, which he founded in 1919, was renamed Jazepa Vitola Latvijas Muzikas Akademija, the Jazeps Vitols Academy of Music. Furthering the honors, the Academy sponsors a piano competition named for its founder--who was also a virtuoso pianist.