|
The Latvian violinist, Baiba Skride, comes from a very musical Latvian family: her love of music comes from her grandmother who taught her and her two sisters to sing. Her father was a famous choral conductor, and her mother plays the piano. Her sister Lauma Skride, one year younger, also plays the piano, while her two-year-older sister Linda plays the viola. In Latvia, as a three-year-old she attended a music school. At the age of four, she was already playing the violin, and just before the age of five she gave her first concert. Later, she attended a special school for musical talents in Riga. From 1995 she studied at the Conservatory of Music and Theatre in Rostock with Petru Munteanu. For a long time she commuted between the special school in Riga and the college in Rostock. She has taken master-classes with Ruggiero Ricci and Lewis Kaplan. Her awards include: 1st Prize at an international music festival in Bulgaria (1988); Grand Prix at the UNICEF International Competition "The Danny Kaye International Children's Award" (1992); 1st Prize at the International Violin Competition in Schöntal Monastery (1995); finalist at the 8th Eurovision Competition in Lisbon (1996); 1st Prize at the International Violin Competition "Jeunesses Musicales" in Bucharest (1997); 2nd Prize at the Paganini Competition (1998); 1st Prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition for violin (2001); Luitpold Prize (German: Luitpoldpreis) of the festival Kissinger Sommer (2002).
Baiba Skride’s natural approach to her music-making has endeared her to some of today’s most important conductors and orchestras worldwide. She is consistently invited for her refreshing interpretations, her sensitivity and delight in the music. She has performed around the world. The list of prestigious orchestras with whom she has worked include the Berliner Philharmoniker, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, CConcertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, Bayerischer Rundfunk Symphonieorchester, Orchestre de Paris, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, and NHK Symphony Orchestra. Notable conductors she collaborates with include Marin Alsop, Christoph Eschenbach, Edward Gardner, Susanna Mälkki, Andris Nelsons, Andres Orozco-Estrada, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Andris Poga, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Tugan Sokhiev, John Storgårds and Juraj Valcuha.
In the 2020-2021 season Baiba Skride performs Sofia Gubaidulina’s Offertorium with Berliner Philharmoniker and Bayerischer Rundfunk Symphonieorchester, both under the baton of Andris Nelsons. She also looks forward to the USA premiere of Victoria Borisova-Ollas’ Violin Concerto A Portrait of a Lady by Swan Lake with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Other season highlights include a European tour with the Wiener Symphoniker and Alain Altinoglu as well as concerts with orchestras such as the Bamberger Symphoniker, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra, Tapiola Sinfonietta, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National de Belgique, Philharmonie Zuidnederlands and Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana. Further afield this season, she also works with the Minnesota Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra as well as New Japan Philharmonic, Taipei Symphony and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras.
Baiba Skride is a sought-after chamber musician internationally and commits to the long-established duo with her sister Lauma. As one of the founding members of the Skride Quartet, she tours again with the quartet to North America in February 2021. The Skride Quartet is also in high demand internationally in Europe where they have performed at venues such as Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Musikverein Vienna, Wigmore Hall London and Louvre Paris in previous seasons. The quartet also toured to Australia for a series of nine recitals at the invitation of Musica Viva in November 2019. In 2020-2021 season, she also performs in trio with her sister Lauma Skride and Stefan Dohr as well as in quintet with Alban Gerhardt, Brett Dean, Gergana Gergova and Lise Berthaud.
Baiba Skride previously played the Stradivarius "Wilhelmj" violin (1725), which was on loan to her from the Nippon Music Foundation, and then the "Ex Baron Feilitzsch" Stradivarius violin (1734), which was loaned to her from Gidon Kremer. She now plays the Yfrah Neaman Stradivarius loaned to her by the Neaman family through the Beares International Violin Society.
Baiba Skride is anticipating the release of her Mozart recording with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Eivind Aadland in September 2020, adding to her prolific discography including her recently released Béla Bartók recording with the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln and Eivind Aadland, as well as her American disc featuring Leonard Bernstein, Korngold and Rózsa with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Tampere Philharmonic Orchestras under the baton of Santtu-Matias Rouvali and the debut recording of the Skride Quartet, all under the Orfeo label. In 2005 she received Echo Klassik, Best Young Artist Award for her debut CD; and in Echo Klassik in the category "Concert Recording of the Year, Music of the 20th/21st Centuries" for the recording of violin concertos by Dmitri Shostakovich and Janáček. |
