Iveta Apkalna
Latvian organist Iveta Apkalna is considered one of the leading instrumentalists in the world. Since 2017 she has served as the titular organist of the Klais organ at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Germany. For the January 2017 opening of the hall she took part in the two world premieres of Wolfgang Rihm’s Triptychon und Spruch in memoriam Hans Henny Jahnn and Jörg Widmann’s ARCHE.
Since Iveta Apkalna’s debut with the Berlin Philharmonic under the baton of Claudio Abbado in 2007 she has performed with a number of the world’s top orchestras including the Bavarian Radio Symphony, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra and the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. She regularly collaborates with renowned
conductors.
Iveta Apkalna is “Organist in Residence” at the Konzerthaus Berlin and since 2019 "Artist in Residence" of the Konzertkirche Neubrandenburg, whose instrument was developed in 2017 by the Berlin organ manufacturer Karl Schuke and Johannes Klais Orgelbau Bonn in collaboration with Iveta Apkalna and inaugurated by her. At the Konzertkirche Neubrandenburg she recorded her most recent CD "Triptychon" with works by Vasks, Bach and Liszt for Berlin Classics.
A highlight of the 2022-2023 season is the inauguration of the new organ in the concert hall of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (NOSPR) in Katowice with the world premiere of a new work by EsaPekka Salonen for organ and orchestra. Recitals this season include performances at the Konzerthaus Dortmund, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Konzerthaus Vienna, in Montréal and Lyon, among others.
Iveta Apkalna was awarded the “Latvian Grand Music Award” and the “Order of the Three Stars”. She became the first organist to receive the title of “Best Performing Artist” award at the 2005 ECHO Klassik
