Reinis Zariņš

Pianist Reinis Zariņš is one of Latvia’s most noteworthy talents, a master of deeply considered and thought-provoking interpretations, a vivid soloist and skilled chamber musician, and an author of conceptual interdisciplinary projects.

Zariņš’ concert programmes frequently have expressive, pictorial themes and titles, such as “Cathedrals of Sound”, “Night Songs”, “A Frenchman in America”, etc. He has prepared truly monumental solo programmes featuring the music of Messiaen, Beethoven and Bach. His interest in the synthesis of the arts, for its part, has resulted in the “MusicPaintingLIVE” project created together with painter Maryleen Schiltkamp as well as the “Seasons: Pēteris Vasks” show in collaboration with contemporary choreographer Kirill Burlov. He is a four-time winner of the Latvian Grand Music Award (2011, 2013, 2015, 2023).

Zariņš has performed at the Lucerne Festival, the Kremerata Baltica Festival, the MasterWorks Festival, the Holland Music Sessions and the Bath, Norfolk and Nova Scotia international music festivals. His performances have gathered audiences in some of the world’s best-known concert halls, including Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Weill Recital Hall at New York City’s Carnegie Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, Saint Petersburg’s Glazunov Hall and Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Concert Hall.

Zariņš has collaborated with conductors Andris Poga, Atvars Lakstīgala, Ainārs Rubiķis, Pierre Boulez, Peter Eötvös, Pablo Heras-Casado and Juha Kangas, among others, and has performed with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra, Kremerata Baltica, the Moscow Virtuosi, the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and more.

In 2018, Zariņš was the artist-in-residence at Latvian Radio 3 “Klasika”.

In 2015, Zariņš together with violinist Eva Bindere and cellist Kristīne Blaumane created the Trio Palladio, performing their first concert at Wigmore Hall in London as part of the events marking Latvia’s presidency of the Council of the European Union. Since then, the trio has regularly performed throughout Latvia and has recorded an album of music by Pēteris Vasks, which was released by Ondine and included in Gramophone’s April 2020 list of top recordings of the month.

Critics have praised other recordings by Zariņš as well, including Circus & Magic and Jāzeps Vītols: Works for Solo Piano released by the British label Champs Hill. Also available on CD is his Wigmore Hall performance of Beethoven’s “Hammerklavier” sonata and works by Schubert (Lemniscat Productions). In 2016, the Latvian national record label Skani released Zariņš’ recording of Volfgangs Dārziņš’ Piano Concerto No. 2 together with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Andris Poga, and the following year it released an album of piano music by Lūcija Garūta, which includes her piano concerto, performed by Zariņš and the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Atvars Lakstīgala. In 2018, Skani released two albums with music performed by Zariņš: the solo album Kreisleriana: Octagon featuring music by Robert Schumann and Andris Dzenītis, and the double album Liepāja Concerti, in which Zariņš plays Arturs Maskats’ Concerto for Piano and Orchestra with the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra conducted by Atvars Lakstīgala.

Zariņš received his musical education at the Jāzeps Mediņš Music School and the Emīls Dārziņš Music School in Riga and later at the Yale School of Music (USA) and the Royal Academy of Music in London. He has been particularly inspired by his teachers and advisors Raffi Kharajanyan, Renē Salaks, Boris Berman and Christopher Elton.

LMIC 2020 / upd.27/03/24