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The Latvian pianist, composer and improviser, Vestard Shimkus [Vestards Šimkus], was born in Jūrmala, Latvia. His mother Iveta Šimkus is a published poet and a teacher of literature. His father Gunārs Šimkus used to be an art-rock musician who was active in the 1960's and 1970's and founded the first rock band named "Katedrāle" in Latvia. His younger sister, Aurelia Shimkus (b 1997), is an accomplished pianist and recording artist. Vestard Shimkus began his piano studies at age of 5 in Riga. From 1990 until 2002, he studied in Emīls Dārziņš Music School in Riga, where his teachers were Ruta Švinka, Ligita Muižarāja, Teofils Biķis and Sergejs Osokins. In 2002-2003, he studied at the University of Southern California under Daniel Pollack. From 2004 to 2006, he studied in Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid under Dimitri Bashkirov and Claudio Martinez Mehner. In 2006 to 2008, he studied at the Richard Strauss Konservatorium in Munich under Vadim Suchanov. Shimkus has also studied composition for five years under the renowned Latvian contemporary composer Pēteris Vasks.
Being the 1st-prize-winner of several competitions, including the Maria Canals International Piano Competition (Spain, 2009), he began to gain an international recognition after his performances with BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Orchestre National de France, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Kremerata Baltica, NDR Sinfonieorchester Hamburg. He has also played chamber music with Borodin Quartet, Vertavo Quartet, Ciurlionis Quartet, Quatuor Leonis and others. As a solo pianist, he has performed in major concert halls around the world, including Konzerthaus (Vienna), Konzerthaus Berlin, Tokyo Opera City, Radio France (Paris), Berwaldhallen (Stockholm), Konserthuset (Stockholm), Moscow Conservatory, Palau de la Musica (Barcelona), Sala Verdi (Milano), and Oriental Art Center (Shanghai), as well as at Lucerne, Schleswig-Holstein, Rheingau, Kissinger Sommer, Bergen and Lockenhaus festivals.
As a pianist, Vestard Shimkus's repertoire ranges from Baroque Music to the contemporary music of the 21st century. He is particularly interested in the music written within the last 150 years. He often plays recitals where classical works form a dialogue with the recent contemporary music, including his own compositions. In addition, he occasionally performs entirely improvised solo concerts inspired by jazz, contemporary classical music, film music, early music and folk music. Described as "a phenomenon" (conductor Paavo Järvi), "superb" (American Record Guide) and "inspired" (BBC), he has also been called "one of the greatest pianists of the young generation" (Piano News, Germany).
Likewise, Vestard Shimkus is also an accomplished composer - he has written two piano concertos and a number of solo piano and chamber music works some of which have been published by Schott Verlag, as well as music for cinema and theatre. In 2016, his original orchestral score for the movie Ausma ("Dawn", 2015, directed by Laila Pakalniņa) received the highest prize awarded in the Latvian cinema - "Lielais Kristaps" Latvian Film Festival Award. He received another "Lielais Kristaps" award for his second film score written for the movie Breathing Into Marble (aka "Breaking Into Marbles"/ "Kvėpavimas į marmurą"/ "Elpa marmorā", 2018, directed by Giedrė Beinoriūtė) in 2018.
Vestard Shimkus has also been awarded with "Lotto-Förderpreis des Rheingau Musik Festivals" (Germany, 2014) as well as nominated for the "International Classical Music Award" (2013) and awarded with TOYP (Ten Outstanding Young Persons) award of Latvian Junior Chamber International (2016).
Vestard Shimkus has released ten albums.
Awards: 1st prize and the "Audience Prize" at the 55th Maria Canals International Piano Competition (Barcelona, Spain, 2009); "LOTTO-Förderpreis" of Rheingau Musik Festival 2014 (Germany); The Golden Order of Poland for an outstanding contribution to the concert series dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frederic Chopin (2011); "White Star" order of Estonia (2005); "Lielais Kristaps" Latvian Film Festival Award in the category "Best Original Score" (2016); "Lielais Kristaps" Latvian Film Festival Award in the category "Best Original Score" (2018); TOYP (Ten Outstanding Young Persons) award of Latvian Junior Chamber International (2016); 1st prize at the 5th "KlavierOlymp" International Piano Competition in Bad Kissingen (Germany, 2007); 1st prize at the Los Angeles International Franz Liszt Piano Competition (USA, 2002); Vienna Grand Prize Virtuoso Award (Austria, 2016); 1st prize at the Manhattan International Music Competition (USA, 2016).
In 2012, Shimkus married the opera singer Elīna Volkmane, now Elīna Shimkus (Elīna Šimkus) |
