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About
A new classical supergroup comprised of four leading European soloists, the Skride Piano Quartet features four likeminded musicians who have each achieved success at the highest levels. The group’s 2016-17 season included performances at the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Musikverein Wien, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Malmo Chamber Music Festival, and BASF Ludwigshafen, and the summer of 2018 featured their raved-about debut at Tanglewood. Upcoming performances include the Concertgebouw, Philharmonie Essen, and the Great Guild Hall Riga. The Skride made its North American debut in the 2018-19 season, and offers programs featuring the best of the piano-quartet repertoire.
Violinist Baiba Skride’s natural approach to her music-making has endeared her to some of today’s most important conductors and orchestras worldwide. She is consistently invited for her refreshing interpretations, her sensitivity, and her delight in the music. The list of prestigious orchestras with whom she has worked include the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Concertgebouw Orkest. Sinfonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Orchestre de Paris, London Philharmonic, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, and NHK Symphony. Notable conductors with whom she collaborates include Christoph Eschenbach, Thierry Fischer, Paavo and Neeme Järvi, Andris Nelsons, Santtu Matias Rouvali, Vasily Petrenko, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, John Storgårds and Kazuki Yamada.
In February 2016, Baiba Skride made her debut with the New York Philharmonic with Christoph Eschenbach; the concerts were a huge success with Vivien Schweitzer of The New York Times writing, “Ms. Skride brought a wide tonal palette to her insightful and passionate interpretation, her tone meaty and bold to open, then sweet, gossamer and brash.’’ In the 2017-18 season Baiba Skride appeared with the Chicago Symphony and Cleveland Symphony, as well as with the Boston Symphony for the American premiere of Sofia Gubaidulina’s Triple Concerto for violin, cello, and bayan.
Lise Berthaud has been unanimously praised as a leading violist on the international music scene, and was a member of BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artists Scheme from 2013-2015. As a soloist, Lise has played with all BBC orchestras, including for her BBC Proms Debuts in 2014 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Andrew Litton. Other solo engagements include the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de Belgique, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Orchestre National de Lyon, les Musiciens du Louvre, Wroclaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Sao Paulo Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Orchestre de Chambre de Wallonie, Hong-Kong Sinfonietta, and various orchestras in France, with conductors like Sakari Oramo, Fabien Gabel, Emmanuel Krivine, Leonard Slatkin, Andrew Litton, François Leleux, Paul Mc Creesh, Marc Minkowski.
Cellist Victor Julien-Laferrière, the first-prize winner of the 2017 Queen Elisabeth Competition 2017 in Brussels, is one of the most exciting young cellists performing today. He also won the first prize and two special prizes at the 2012 Prague Spring International Competition, and in 2018, he was awarded the Victoire de la Musique in France as “Best Instrumental Solo.” A student of Roland Pidoux, Heinrich Schiff, and Clemens Hagen, Victor Julien-Laferrière has performed with Europe’s most prestigious orchestras, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Valery Gergiev, and has performed at the Essen Philharmonie, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Louisiana Museum in Copenhague, KKL of Lucerne, Tonhalle of Zurich, Auditorium du Louvre, Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, and the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.
Lauma Skride's playing is "wonderfully sensitive, with marvelous tone quality, and always with highly virtuosic vigor," according to a review by the Bavarian Broadcasting Service. Combined with brilliant technique, these are the qualities with which Lauma Skride captivates audiences on major concert stages throughout the world, both as a soloist and chamber musician. Awarded the Beethoven Ring in 2008, Lauma is highly acclaimed for her interpretations of Germanic classical and romantic repertoire. In recent seasons, Lauma Skride has appeared with Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonic, and the Orquesta de Gran Canaria. Lauma Skride performs with such conductors as Andris Nelsons, Kristjan Järvi, Anu Tali, Muhai Tang, Peter Ruzicka, John Storgårds, Pedro Halffter, André de Ridder, Yan Pascal Tortelier and Cornelius Meister.
Piano quartets are less often heard than piano trios, but the simple addition of a rich-toned viola seems to inspire composers to create music of outstanding lyricism. Together these stunning virtuosi play with an exhilarating sense of joy, mutual respect, and endless invention.