Baiba Skride may well be the classical discovery of the year.

—Vogue

Program

BEETHOVEN: Trio No. 5 in D Major, Op. 70, No. 1, Ghost
SHOSTAKOVICH: Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67
BRAHMS: Trio in B Major, Op. 8

ENCORE:
SHOSTAKOVICH: Allegro non troppo (2nd Mov't), Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67

About This Performance

Latvian sisters Baiba and Lauma Skride first brightened San Francisco Performances’ Young Masters Series with their 2007 debut as a duo. This season they are joined by brilliant German cellist Jan Vogler, noted for his “rapturously heartfelt” playing (Washington Post). The trio represents the fresh and ebullient voice of the next generation of chamber music—intelligent, impressive and modern.

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Artist Biography

Lauma Skride was born in Riga in 1982 as the youngest of three sisters in a Latvian musical family. She has taken part in many international competitions (Valentino Bucchi in Italy, Maria Canals in Spain, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, Austria; UNISA Pretoria/South Africa, 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.

Lauma Skride has worked with such orchestras as the Brandenburgischen Staatsorchester, under Andris Nelsons, Philharmonische Orchester der Stadt Heidelberg under Cornelius Meister, Hamburger Symphoniker under Peter Schreier, Malmö Symphony Orchestra under Okko Kamu and last season made her Japan debut with Kyoto Symphony Orchestra.

In 2008/2009 her appearances will include a return to Japan, performing Tchaikovsky with Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, her Finnish debut with Tapiola Sinfonietta, her debut with Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, appearances with Philharmonischen Orchester Kiel, Neubrandenburger Philharmonic, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie under André de Ridder and with the Baltic Youth Orchestra under the direction of Kristjan Järvi. She also appears, with Baiba, at the Bachfest Leipzig with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. The sisters will give duo recitals at Konzerthaus Dortmund, at London´s Wigmore Hall and in Italy; and festival chamber music appearances will include the Züricher Festspiele, Mozartiade Augsburg and Schwetzinger Festspiele.

Her varied repertoire includes piano concertos by Mozart, Saint-Saëns, Prokofiev, Rachmaninov, Chopin and Liszt, as well as less traditional repertoire like Szymanowski´s Sinfonia Concertante, Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F, Barber's Piano Concerto, Judith Weir's Piano Concerto and Mark Moebius's Portrait of a Businesswoman.

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.

Lauma Skride was a pupil of Anita Paze at the Emil Darzins Music Conservatory in Riga, finishing her studies as a student of Prof. Volker Banfield at the Music Conservatory in Hamburg.

 

Still in her mid-twenties, over recent seasons Baiba Skride has appeared with the Sinfonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunk, Munich Philharmonic, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Tonhalle Orchester, Orchestre de Paris, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony, Residentie Orkest and the US orchestras of Philadelphia, Houston, Cincinnati, St. Louis and Detroit. Skride’s work includes collaborations with Herbert Blomstedt, Paavo and Neeme Järvi, Sir Neville Marriner, Peter Oundjian and Mikhail Pletnev, as well as with her peers, Olari Elts, Mikko Franck, Andris Nelsons and Kirill Petrenko.

In 2008/09 she will tour with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Charles Dutoit starting in Munich. Followed by two Tchaikovsky concerto performances with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and her fellow Latvian Andris Nelsons, with whom she recorded a Tchaikovsky CD for Sony with great acclaim (released in January 08). The International Record Review recently noted: “Skride’s playing is unfailingly intelligent, her virtuosity is allied to a sure sense of the work’s emotional range. Her tone is full but beautifully controlled, and her phrasing throughout has a natural flair that is compelling…clear-headed, thoughtful and convincing.”

This season also sees Skride return to Japan with Nagoya Philharmonic/ Thierry Fischer, Stockholm Philharmonic/ Sakari Oramo, Malmö Symphony Orchestra/ Pietari Inkinen and returning to her native Latvian National Symphony Orchestra.

In the USA her returns are always eagerly anticipated. After her success in Spring 2008 with Minnesota Orchestra and Osmo Vänska, she will return to perform with the Symphony Orchestra’s of Oregon, Detroit, Charlotte, Utah and Kansas City.

Focusing on the forthcoming Mendelssohn anniversary year, Skride plays the Double Concerto with her long-established duo partner and sister, Lauma Skride with Tapiola Sinfonietta, Norrköping Symphony and Viva Sinfonia under Andre de Ridder as well as with the Zurich Chamber Ochestra including a performance at the Züricher Festspiele and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe at Leipzig’s Bachfest. Recital appearances include a return to the Rheingau Musikfestival, Dortmund’s Konzerthaus and London’s Wigmore Hall. Joined by cellist Sol Gabetta, this dynamic ensemble performs at the Schubertiade in Hohenems, Graz, Bayreuth and Salzburg’s Mozarteum amongst others.

Skride has been recording for Sony Classical since 2004. Her highly praised CDs include a first duo CD with her sister (Schubert, Beethoven, Ravel) as well a solo violin disc (Ysaye, Bartok, Bach) a two concerto discs (Mozart, Schubert, Michael Haydn and Shostakovich, Janacek).

Baiba Skride was born into a musical Latvian family in Riga where she began her studies, transferring in 1995 to the Conservatory of Music and Theatre in Rostock. In 2001 she won the 1st prize of the Queen Elisabeth Competition. Baiba Skride plays the Stradivarius "Wilhelmj" violin (1725), which is generously on loan to her from the Nippon Music Foundation.

 

Since dedicating himself to his instrument, Jan Vogler has constantly worked on expanding the spectrum of his cello sound and refines his musical language in an enduring dialogue with renowned contamporary composers and interpreters – with passion and the required dose of risk. The New York Times admires Jan Vogler’s “lyrical intuition”, and Gramophone Magazine praises his “spiralling virtuosity” and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung certified him the talent to be able to “let his cello speak like a singing voice”. “From Screaming to singing – Jan Vogler and his cello” was the title of a 2004 Strad issue. In October 2006, Jan Vogler received the European Award for Culture. He is Intendant (director) of the Dresden Music Festival from October 2008.

Jan Vogler will start the season 2008-09 with an international tour together with the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden and Fabio Luisi which will take them to concerts in Dresden, Chicago and New York. Throughout the season he will perform with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, at the Bachwoche Würzburg, in Mannheim and several times in Munich, where he will premiere a new cello concerto by Udo Zimmermann together with the Bavarian Radio Symphony. Jan Vogler will also continue his successful collaboration with pianist Martin Stadtfeld in numerous duo recitals. Highlights of the 2007-08 season were his debuts with the Chicago Symphony and the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra. He was also guest of the German Radio Philharmonic, Freiburg Philharmonic, mdr Symphony and the Munich Chamber Orchestra.

Jan Vogler, who currently lives in Dresden and New York together with his wife and two daughters, started as principal cellist of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden at age 20 but left the position in 1997 in order to fully concentrate on his already successful career as a soloist. Carreer highlights include performances with the New York Philharmonic, one of them with Lorin Maazel during the reopening festivities of the Dresden Frauenkirche in 2005, when he premiered English composer Colin Matthews’ Berceuse for Dresden. Jan Vogler plays the precious Montagnana ‘Ex-Hekking’ cello from 1721.

Alongside the standard pieces, Jan Vogler’s orchestra repertoire includes exceptional works such as the cello concerto Dunkle Saiten by Jörg Widmann which was dedicated to him, and the cello concertos by Samuel Barber and Michael Haydn.

Vogler is also a passionate chamber musician. Co-founder of the Moritzburg Festival, he artistic director and takes the festival ensemble on tours. He regularly performs with pianists such as Hélène Grimaud, Martin Stadtfeld, and Louis Lortie. Together with Lortie he offers special programs including, a Lieder program with works by Wagner, Wolf and Liszt.

Vogler began his successful collaboration with Sony Classical in 2003/04 with a recording of Strauss’ Don Quixote and Romance with the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden and Fabio Luisi. Another Sony recording, The Secrets of Dvořák’s cello concerto with the New York Philharmonic and David Robertson, was awarded the Diapason d’Or, among others. Following a CD with Fauré and Ravel piano quintets, in 2006 two new CDs were released with musicians of the Moritzburg Festival, performing Mozart chamber works. One of them was awarded the ECHO Klassik 2006. His highly successful recordings for Berlin Classics include the cello concertos by Samuel Barber and Erich Wolfgang Korngold. His latest CD My Tunes, was released on Sony Classical in February 07. The next CD from September 07, Concerti Brillanti, includes cello concerti by Hasse, Graf, Michael Haydn (world premiere recordings), and C.P.E. Bach, recorded with the Munich Chamber Orchestra and Reinhard Goebel. His new CD with the Moritzburg Festival Ensemble, Tango! was released in Germany in July 2008.