Pēteris Vasks – 80

The Pēteris Vasks Quartet is a special project bringing together four outstanding Latvian musicians, who perform in Latvia and throughout Europe, to celebrate the composer’s 80th birthday in 2026.

At the center of the quartet’s program is Olivier Messiaen’s “Quartet for the End of Time,” an eight-movement 20th-century chamber music masterpiece first performed in a 1941 prisoner-of-war camp. This work is deeply cherished by P. Vasks, having inspired him to write his own piano trio, “Episodi e Canto Perpetuo,” in 1985, which also consists of eight movements (performed here in an extended concert version). Arvo Pärt’s piece “Fratres” is included in the program at P. Vasks’s request.

Violinist Magdalēna Geka has performed in many prestigious European halls: Wigmore Hall and Southbank Centre in London, United Kingdom; the Auditorium du Louvre and the Philharmonie in Paris, France; the Verbier Festival in Switzerland; the Kuhmo Festival in Finland; as well as the Newport Music Festival in the USA. She is a laureate of the Parkhouse Award in London, the International Marschner Competition in Germany, as well as the Pro Musicis and Académie des Beaux-Arts awards in Paris. For her recording of Maija Einfelde’s violin sonatas (SKANI, 2021), she was nominated for three categories of the prestigious German Opus Klassik award, including Young Artist of the Year. She has been nominated twice for the Latvian Grand Music Award (Lielā Mūzikas balva).

M. Geka has performed most of the major violin concertos with numerous orchestras in Latvia, France, Ukraine, and Germany. She regularly performs as concertmaster for Sinfonietta Riga, Orchestre de Chambre Nouvelle Europe, and Ensemble Appassionato alongside renowned conductors and soloists such as Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Jörg Widmann, Olari Elts, Midori, Gidon Kremer, Kristian Bezuidenhout, Philippe Jaroussky, and Andrea Bocelli. From 2015 to 2019, she was a founding member of Trio Sora; currently, she is the first violinist of Quatuor Akilone (France) and the concertmaster of the State Chamber Orchestra Sinfonietta Riga (Latvia). She is also the founder and former artistic director of chamber music festivals in Saulkrasti and Ventspils (Latvia)—festivals that have provided an opportunity for young Latvian musicians to return and perform in their native country.

The violinist has released several recordings with the SKANI, Paraty, and Klarthe labels, earning critical acclaim in the press. She is also deeply passionate about performing contemporary music, collaborating with composers such as Peteris Vasks, Platons Buravickis, Eric Tanguy, Camille Pépin, Santa Buss, and Gabriel Sivak. During the 2024–2025 season, M. Geka performed the world premieres of two new violin concertos composed by her compatriots Platons Buravickis and Janis Petraskevics. M. Geka plays an Alessandro Gagliano violin crafted in 1734, generously loaned to her by the Anima Music Foundation, as well as a contemporary violin made by Philippe Mahu.

Kristaps Bergs is not merely a performing musician, but a searching one. To him, music is not just sound—it is thought, movement, and a way to understand what cannot be expressed in words.

Surrounded by music from an early age, the cellist performed Saint-Saëns’s Cello Concerto No. 1 with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Andris Nelsons, at the age of 17. That same year, he also met Mstislav Rostropovich. He studied in Vienna, won first prizes at the Brahms, Davidov, and Dombrovsky competitions, received a university award of appreciation, and was nominated several times for the Latvian Grand Music Award—although prizes have never been the artist’s primary goal.

K. Bergs has led the cello sections of the Oslo Philharmonic and the London Philharmonic, and served as solo cellist for the Brussels Philharmonic, though chamber and solo music remain closest to his heart. For this reason, he continues to perform with Trio Fabel at the Montecastelli Chamber Music Festival, dedicated to his mentor Heinrich Schiff.

The cellist collaborates with Natalia Prischepenko, Christian Altenburger, Giovanni Sollima, Peter Vasks, Helmut Lachenmann, and Eduard Schmieder—working with contemporary composers is deeply important to him. He plays a Lorenzo Ventapane cello crafted in 1836, an instrument that, much like the artist himself, holds a story within every sound.

Egīls Šēfers is one of Latvia’s most renowned clarinetists. He is a soloist who performs even the most complex parts with incredible ease. His playing is known for its high technical mastery and meticulous artistry, refined down to the smallest detail. After graduating from the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music, Šēfers continued to hone his skills in Stockholm, and later in the United States at Butler University in Indianapolis and Indiana University Bloomington. He has performed worldwide as a soloist and as a member of chamber ensembles and orchestras. He perfected his craft by studying under many world-renowned clarinetists, including Kjell-Inge Stevenson, John Graulty, Richard Stoltzman, Charles Neidich, and Eli Eban. Under Eric Hoeprich, he studied the art of historical clarinet performance, and in Denmark, he held the position of principal clarinetist with the Odense Symphony Orchestra.

Šēfers is a laureate of several international competitions and has released albums on the Challenge Records, Odradek, and SKANI labels. Currently, Šēfers is a member of the acclaimed Danish wind quintet Carion and serves as the director of the Latvian Music Information Centre.

Iveta Calite is a Latvian pianist residing in Luxembourg. She is a dedicated chamber musician and soloist. The pianist has performed in the Nordic countries, the Baltic States, the USA, France, and Germany, and has recorded several albums for Latvian Radio, as well as a contemporary work with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra. She has also performed as a soloist with the string and symphony orchestras of the Royal College of Music in Stockholm.

In 2021, Iveta Calite and violinist Magdalena Geka recorded a CD of Latvian composer Maija Einfelde’s violin sonatas for the national record label SKANI—the release earned critical acclaim both nationally and internationally, and was nominated for three prestigious German Opus Klassik music awards. In 2024, Iveta and Magdalena, together with flutist Ilona Meija, recorded a new album featuring the chamber music of Vilnis Šmīdbergs (SKANI).

After completing her early musical education in Latvia, the pianist moved to Paris to study at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot under Jean-Marc Luisada. From 2012, she studied at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm with Stefan Bojsten and Mats Widlund, where she earned her master’s degree in piano performance and chamber music, alongside a soloist diploma. I. Calite is a scholarship recipient of the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, and the Nordic Freemasons.