Pēteris Vasks – 80

The Pēteris Vasks Quartet is a special project bringing together four exceptional Latvian musicians—active both in Latvia and across Europe—to celebrate the composer’s 80th birthday in 2026.

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

Violinist Magdalēna Geka has performed in many of Europe’s most prestigious venues: Wigmore Hall and Southbank Centre in London, United Kingdom, Auditorium du Louvre and the Philharmonie in Paris, France, the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival in Finland, as well as the Newport Music Festival in the US. She is a laureate of the Parkhouse Award in London, the International Marschner Competition in Germany, and 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 in three categories for Germany’s prestigious Opus Klassik award, including Young Artist of the Year. She has also been nominated twice for the Latvian Grand Music Award (“Lielā Mūzikas balva”).

M. Geka has performed the majority of the major violin concertos with numerous orchestras across Latvia, France, Ukraine, and Germany. She regularly appears as concertmaster for Sinfonietta Riga, Orchestre de Chambre Nouvelle Europe, and Ensemble Appassionato, collaborating with 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; she is currently the first violinist of Quatuor Akilone (France) and concertmaster of the State Chamber Orchestra Sinfonietta Riga (Latvia). She also founded and served as artistic director for chamber music festivals in Saulkrasti and Ventspils (Latvia)—festivals that provided an opportunity for young Latvian musicians to return and perform in their home country.

The violinist has released several recordings with the labels “SKANI”, “Paraty”, and “Klarthe”, garnering widespread critical acclaim in the press. She also has a deep affinity for 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 written by her compatriots, composers Platons Buravickis and Janis Petraskevics. M. Geka plays an Alessandro Gagliano violin crafted in 1734, generously loaned to her by the Anima Music Foundation, alongside a modern violin made by Philippe Mahu.

Kristaps Bergs is not merely a performing musician, but a searching one. For him, music is more than just sound; it is thought, movement, and a way of understanding that which 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, when he was just 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 has been nominated several times for the Latvian Grand Music Award—though accolades 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 of the Brussels Philharmonic, though his truest affinities lie with chamber and solo music. Thus, he continues to perform with Trio Fabel at the Montecastelli Chamber Music Festival, an event 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 of great importance to him. He plays a Lorenzo Ventapane cello crafted in 1836, an instrument that, much like the artist himself, conceals a story within every note.

Egīls Šēfers is one of Latvia’s most renowned clarinetists—a soloist who performs even the most complex passages with incredible ease. His playing is known for its high technical mastery and meticulous artistry, refined down to the finest details. After graduating from the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music, Šēfers further honed his skills in Stockholm, and later in the United States at Butler University in Indianapolis and Indiana University in Bloomington. He has performed worldwide as a soloist, as well as a member of chamber ensembles and orchestras. He perfected his craft studying under many internationally acclaimed clarinetists, including Kjell-Inge Stevenson, John Graulty, Richard Stoltzman, Charles Neidich, and Eli Eban. Under Eric Hoeprich, he studied the art of playing the historical clarinet, 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 based in Luxembourg. She is a dedicated chamber musician and soloist. The pianist has performed across the Nordic and Baltic countries, the US, France, and Germany. She 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 violin sonatas by Latvian composer Maija Einfelde for the Latvian national record label “SKANI”—the release garnered critical acclaim both nationally and internationally, and was nominated for 3 prestigious German Opus Klassik music awards. In 2024, Iveta and Magdalena, alongside 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, and the Nordic Freemasons.