Conductors

Kaspars Ādamsons graduated the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music with a master’s degree in music and choral conducting (under Andris Veismanis), completing additional conducting studies under early music specialist Professor Erik van Nevel at the Lemmensinstituut Leuven in Belgium. In 2011, Ādamsons graduated the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre with a master’s degree in orchestral conducting (under Paul Mägi); in 2012 he completed studies at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, where he studied orchestral conducting under professors Daniel Harding, Cecilia Rydinger Alin, B. Tommy Andersson, among others.

Since 2014, Ādamsons has led the Riga Music School symphony orchestra, and has conducted at the Latvian National Opera. To date, Ādamsons has served as assistant conductor for the opera and ballet productions of Rienzi. Rise and Fall, Three Meetings and Manon Lescaut. In the 2015/2016 season, he serves as conductor for The Birds’ Opera.

Ādamsons has collaborated with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra RIGA brass band, the Vidzeme Chamber Orchestra, the Riga Music School symphony orchestra, the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music symphony orchestra, the Estonian Academy of Music student orchestra, the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, the Gävle Symphony Orchestra, the Umeå Symphony Orchestra, the Linköping Östgöta Blåsarsymfoniker and the Royal College of Music in Stockholm symphony and chamber orchestras.

In 2015, Ādamsons was nominated for the Grand Music Award in the category for “Best New Artist”, and was voted the audience favourite.

Māris Sirmais is one of Latvia’s most significant conductors, a charismatic leader and a driving force in Latvian choral music. Under his more than 20 years of leadership, the State Choir LATVIJA has become one of Europe’s most well-known choirs. Sirmais has conducted concerts at the Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg; Koerner Hall, Toronto; the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, Moscow; Lincoln Center, New York; the Tonhalle, Zürich; the Vaslav Nijinsky Auditorium, Nantes; Stavanger Concert Hall; the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival; the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival; the Lockenhaus Festival; and others. He has collaborated closely with violinist Gidon Kremer, conductor Mariss Jansons, organist Iveta Apkalna, violist Maxim Rysanov, composers Giya Kancheli and Rodion Shchedrin, and many other world-class musicians and composers from around the world. Sirmais has conducted concerts with the Berlin Radio Choir, the MDR Leipzig Radio Choir, the Netherlands Chamber Choir and Netherlands Children’s Choir, Singapore’s ONE Chamber Choir, Šiauliai’s Polifonija, and other choirs worldwide. Sirmais performs regularly with almost all of Latvia’s professional orchestras, and has conducted ensembles such as Kremerata Baltica, Moscow’s Musica Viva Chamber Orchestra, Umeå Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Strings, the Evgeny Svetlanov State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia and others.

Sirmais was also the creator of the most vibrant symbols of Latvian choral culture, Youth Choir Kamēr…, for which he was Head Conductor from its founding in 1990 to 2012. He is also an active participant in the Song Festival amateur choir movement. Since 1998, he has been a Song Festival Chief Conductor, and he was the Artistic Director for the 2008 Song Festival Gala Concert. Sirmais teaches choral conducting at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music and sits on the juries of several international choral and choral conducting competitions. He also gives popular masterclasses.

Primarily being an oboist, Normunds Šnē has become one of the most important Latvian conductors at the present time.

In the late 1980’s he established the Riga Chamber Players group and, some years later, The Riga Festival Orchestra. With Normunds as the conductor and artistic director, they were responsible for a large number of contemporary music premieres in Latvia; the audiences in Riga were able to hear the masterpieces by Messiaen (Turgangalîla-Symphonie), Scelsi (Uaxuctum), Berio (Sinfonia) and other 20th century greats performed live for the first time.

Since 2006 he is the musical director of the Chamber Orchestra Sinfonietta Riga. From season to season they have blended avant-garde compositions with a wide range of Baroque music, Vienna classics, and Romanticism in an extravagant and daring way, building up a devoted and open-minded audience. Their musicianship has been awarded a Grammy Award and recurrently – the Latvian Great Music Award. Normunds has had an extended collaboration with Latvian National Symphony Orchestra and Liepaja Symphony Orchestra; he has stood on the podiums of Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra, Ostrobothnian Orchestra, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, and Latvian National Opera. He is a nine-time recipient of the Latvian Great Music Award.

Truth and beauty: these are the qualities Latvian pianist Reinis Zariņš seeks in the music he chooses, the interpretations he sculpts, and the collaborations he enters. Equally at home in classical and contemporary repertoire, his passion lies in the crafting of conceptual programmes that encourage interaction between music, philosophy, history, and theology.

2022 highlights include a complete performance of Messiaen’s Vingt regards at the London's Wigmore hall, the premiere of a new triple concerto with the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra,performances of Bach’s complete multi-piano concertos with the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, and appearances with the Lithuanian National and State symphonic orchestras. During the pandemic lockdowns, Reinis devised a home concert series that was livestreamed on his YouTube channel. Ever since his concerto debut at the age of ten, Reinis has performed as a concerto soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician throughout Europe and North America. He has participated in prestigious music festivals including the Lucerne Festival, the Bath International Music Festival, and the Scotia Festival of Music. His thoughtful virtuosity has delighted audiences at Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, London’s Wigmore hall, New York’s Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow. Reinis has collaborated with leading orchestras including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Kremerata Baltica, and the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, and with conductors Pierre Boulez, Peter Eötvös, Pablo Heras- Casado, and Andris Poga, among others. His performances have been broadcast live by BBC Radio 3, NDR, Polish National Radio, and King FM. In 2018, he was Artist-in-Residence at Latvian Radio 3 and the Cēsis Concert Hall with his Trio Palladio.

Pēteris Endzelis began learning to play the oboe in the Emīls Dārziņš Music School with Uldis Urbāns, moving on to Liepāja Music College, followed by oboe studies in Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music under Vilnis Pelnēns.

From 1998 to 2005 Endzelis was the principal oboist in the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra. Since 2001 he has been the principal oboe in the Latvian National Opera and Ballet. As of 2011 he is also the lead oboist in the Chamber Orchestra Sinfonietta Rīga, directed by Normunds Šnē.

He has performed as a soloist with Gidon Kremer and the Chamber Orchestra Kremerata Baltica, with Marta Sudraba in some of the most famous European concert venues, as well as with the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra and the Latvian National Opera and Ballet orchestra. He has also performed in the David Oistrakh Festival in Pärnu.

Pēteris Endzelis has worked with such esteemed conductors as Mstislav Rostropovich, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Mariss Jansons, Andris Nelsons, Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi, Heinz Holliger, Krzysztof Penderecki, Olari Elts, Andris Poga, Cornelius Meister etc.

He regularly collaborates with the Nordic Symphony orchestra, the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra.

In 2010 Endzelis received the Latvijas Gāze Annual Award as the Best Orchestra musician.

Latvian pianist Agnese Egliņa possesses sharp-edged stage presence, playful dexterity and plenty of excitement and vigour. Agnese Egliņa is a laureate of the highest music award in Latvia The Grand Music Award for outstanding ensemble work and of many awards for best performance as pianist-accompanist at international competitions. By actively participating in different chamber music projects Agnese Egliņa has become one of the most influential Latvian pianists of her generation.

Agnese Eglina has performed in South African Republic, Zambia, Zimbabwe, USA (New York, Washington, Cleveland), Estonia, Russia, Switzerland, Gibraltar, Italy, Germany, Austria, Albania, Norway, Finland et al. Lately Agnese Egliņa has included more solo repertoire into her concerts. As soloist she has performed with Latvian National Symphony Orchestra and Liepāja Symphony Orchestra. She has collaborated with chamber orchestra Sinfonietta Riga and Latvian Radio Choir. The pianist performs regularly with the leading Latvian musicians and has performed with internationally-acclaimed soloists, such as Chen Halevi, Nicolas Baldeyrou, Thomas Indermühle, Christian Schmitt and many others.

As a soloist and chamber musician Agnese Egliņa has participated in many music festivals. She has appeared in Promenade at Lusaka, Zambia, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, International Montpellier Music Festival, VII Kremerata Baltica Festival, 16th and 21st Liepāja International Piano Stars Festival, Latvian chamber music festival Schubertiade at Ungurmuiža, Contemporary Music Festival Arēna and many others.

Karen Shahgaldyan is one of the most brilliant musicians of modern Russia. Laureat of Pablo Sarasate International Competition. He finished the Moscow State Conservatory at the class of Professor Victor Tretiakov and the Graduate School of the Moscow State Conservatory into the class of Professor M. Glezarova. Karen attended master-classes of  Yehudi Menuhin, Vladimir Spivakov, Grigorii Zhislin, Evgeniia Chugaeva. Several years Karen performed in the orchestra "Virtuosos of Moscow" under the direction of Vladimir Spivakov. He performed at such halls as Carnegie Hall, New York, Bolshoy Hall, Moscow, Royal Festival Hall, London, Musikverein, Wien, Laeizhalle, Hamburg, Purcell Room, London, Suntory Hall, Tokyo, Opera City Hall, Tokyo and others. He visited with concerts more than 200 cities in such countries, as USA, China, South Korea, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Austria, Australia, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Latvia, Lietuva, Czech Republic, Georgia, Moldova, Russia and Armenia. 

Artistic director of “Classic strings” Competition and Festival  in Riga, Latvia.

From 2006 violinist of Khachaturian trio.