Baiba SKRIDE

• 1st prize, Violin 2001
  

Violinist Baiba Skride, first-prize winner at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels in 2001, 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. Moreover, as a result of her success at the competition, she was invited to give solo recitals in Montpellier and to appear with the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg and Radio Symphony Orchestra Frankfurt. During the 2001/02 season, she performed with many orchestras, including the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Het Residentie Orkest Den Haag, Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège, Festival Strings Lucerne, Saarlandische Rundfunk Orchester, Württembergische Kammerorchester Heilbronn, Orchestra of the Ludwisgsburger 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.

This season saw Baiba Skride making her US debut with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Gilbert Varga, and her Berlin debut 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 Russian National Orchestra under Paavo Berglund, Orchestre National de Belgique under Mikko Franck, the Latvian National Orchestra under Olari Elts, Orchestre National de Montpellier, Orchestra Regionale Lazio in Rome, Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock, and has been 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 in December 2002. Solo recitals this season take Baiba Skride to Paris, Potsdam, Heidelberg, Bamberg, Glashütte with the Hessischer Rundfunk, Schwäbisch Hall, Tilburg, Beijing and Tokyo. Her regular pianist is her sister, Lauma Skride.

Among next seasons’ hilghlights will be Baiba Skrides debut with the Müncher Philharmoniker and her debut at the Salzburger Easter- and Summerfestival.

A committed chamber musician, Baiba Skride appeared at the Delft Chamber Music Festival in summer 2002 at the invitation of Isabelle van Keulen. In summer 2003, she is invited to perform at the Kissinger Sommer, the Lockenhaus Festival, the Festival de Lanaudiere in Canada and the Oslo Chamber Music Festival. She furthermore gives 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.

Baiba Skride