Lauma Skride

Piano

“Lauma Skride brings an affectionate playfulness to the music. (…) If Fanny Mendelssohn deserved better in her lifetime, she could hardly hope for a better champion in ours” Gramophone Magazine

Lauma Skride was born in Riga in 1982 as the youngest of three sisters in a Latvian musical family. She began playing the piano aged five. She was a pupil of Anita Paze at the Emil Darzins Music Conservatory in Riga and completed her studies as a student of Prof. Volker Banfield at the Music Conservatory in Hamburg.

Since the age of ten she has taken part in many international competitions - among others, Maria Canals in Spain and Cleveland International Piano Competition in USA - consistently receiving awards for her interpretations of the repertoire.

Concert tours have taken her extensively throughout Europe and Asia, where she has performed as a soloist, as well as in concert with her sisters, acclaimed violinist Baiba Skride and violist Linda Skride.

Whilst still studying, Lauma Skride began her career as a soloist, performing with the Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester under Andris Nelsons, the Aachener Symphonieorchester, Staatsorchester Wiesbaden and Hannover, Hamburger Symphoniker (under Peter Schreier), Philharmonisches Orchester Kiel as well as Symphonisches Orchester der Stadt Heidelberg, where she premiered Mark Moebius’ Piano Concerto “Portrait of a Business Woman” under Cornelius Meister. She also made debut appearances with the Baltic Youth Orchestra under Kristijan Järvi and, in summer 2007, in Japan with Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, followed by a recital tour.   

Together with Baiba Skride she was invited to the Bachfest Leipzig in 2009, where they played Mendelssohn’s Double Concerto with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, a piece they also performed with the Zürcher Kammerorchester. Baiba and Lauma Skride’s numerous duo recitals include appearances at festivals such as Schubertiade Hohenems, Kissinger Sommer and Dresdner Musikfestspiele. They also perform in Frankfurt, Berlin, Basel, Tokyo and Osaka, among others.

Lauma Skride’s debut Sony recording of Fanny Mendelssohn’s “Das Jahr” was released in late 2006, and has received unanimous critical acclaim. The disc earned Skride the title of Newcomer of the Year at the prestigious Echo Awards in 2007. Lauma and Baiba Skride’s duo recital disc received its international release last season.

In 2009/2010 she performs for the first time with HR Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt and Nürnberger Symphoniker and returns to Zürcher Kammerorchester and Hamburger Symphoniker. She further makes her debut appearance with the Cincinnati Symphony, under John Storgårds, playing Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with her sister Baiba Skride and Jan Vogler. The trio will also give recitals in Cincinnati and San Francisco.

SEASON 2009/2010