Baiba Skride

Violinist Baiba Skride, first-prize winner of the 2001 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, was born into a musical Latvian family in Riga in 1981. She received her first violin lessons in Riga at the age of four and, in 1995, transferred as a young student to the Conservatory of Music and Theatre in Rostock, where she has studied since then with Professor Petru Munteanu. She has also attended master classes with Ruggiero Ricci and Lewis Kaplan. Prior to her success in Brussels, Baiba Skride had already been awarded the first prize at several international competitions, such as the International Competition for Violin at Kloster Schöntal (Germany) in 1995, the Jeunesse Musicales International Music Competition in Bucharest (Romania) in 1997 and the Lipizer International Violin Competition in Gorizia (Italy) in 2000. In June 2001, Baiba Skride played Prokofiev´s Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Orchestre National de Belgique under Lorin Maazel at the closing concert of the competition in Brussels. She subsequently gave solo recitals at the Festival de Montpellier and the Palais des Beaux Arts, and appeared with the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Radio Symphony Orchestra Frankfurt, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Het Residentie Orkest Den Haag, Orchestre Philharmonique de Li?ge, Festival Strings Lucerne, Saarlandische Rundfunk Orchester, Württembergische Kammerorchester Heilbronn, Orchestra of the Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele and the St. Petersburg Camerata Orchestra as part of the St. Petersburg Festival. In March 2002, she was invited to Hong Kong with the Gewandhaus Orchester Leipzig, under the direction of Herbert Blomstedt, where she played the Beethoven Violin Concerto at the Hong Kong Arts Festival. Last season saw Baiba Skride making her US début with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Gilbert Varga, and her Berlin début with the Deutsche Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin, as part of their “Debüt im Deutschlandradio” series. She gave performances with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra under Hans Graf, the Philharmonia Orchestra under Paul Daniel, Russian National Orchestra under Paavo Berglund, Orchestre National de Belgique under Mikko Franck, the Latvian National Orchestra under Olari Elts, the Orchestre National de Montpellier, and was invited to perform at the Kissinger Winterzauber with the Philharmonia Orchestra Prague and Jiri Behlohlavek. She also appeared with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Euskadi and their Music Director, Gilbert Varga, on tour in Spain. Further solo recitals took Baiba Skride to Paris, Beijing and Tokyo as well as Rheingau Music Festival and Kissinger Sommer. This season, Baiba Skride is playing Shostakovich’s violin concerto No. 1 with the Munich Philharmonic under Mikko Franck. In the United States, she will work with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra as well as with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under Paavo Järvi. In Europe, she will appear with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under Marin Alsop and the Dresden Philharmonic under Paavo Berglund. In the summer of 2004, Baiba Skride will give her début at the Salzburg Festival. A committed chamber musician, Baiba Skride appeared at the Delft Chamber Music Festival in summer 2002 at the invitation of Isabelle van Keulen as well as at the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival and Oslo Chamber Music Festival. She regularly appears in recital with her sister, pianist Lauma Skride and trio concerts with her two sisters Linda Skride (viola) and Lauma Skride (piano). Baiba Skride plays the Stradivarius "Huggins" violin (1708), which is generously on loan to her from the Nippon Music Foundation