KristīneBalanas

In demand for her “savage, bold, dramatic playing” (The Strad), Kristīne’s head-turning transformation from a street musician and rock singer in Latvia to a graduate with honours from the Royal Academy of Music where she studied under György Pauk, and Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler under Kolja Blacher, marks her as an entirely idiosyncratic presence on stage.

The 2023/24 season will see Kristīne debut with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria performing the famed Beethoven Violin Concerto conducted by Trevor Pinnock, with the Szczecin Philharmonic under the baton of Ilya Ram and the Orchestre National de Montpellier directed by Ainars Rubikis performing the Korngold Violin Concerto; with the George Enescu Philharmonic performing the Brahms Violin Concerto with Michał Nesterowicz, and a return to the Deutsche Philharmonie Merck performing Brahms' Violin Concerto under Ben Palmer’s direction. This season Kristīne will also return to the Risør Chamber Music Festival with Tine Thing Helseth and premiere the new Violin Concerto by famed pianist and composer Mikhail Pletnev under the Maestro’s baton with Concerto Budapest.

Kristīne’s many successes in previous seasons include her debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Andris Poga at the Cadogan Hall, a nationwide tour with Kremerata Baltica, remarkable performances of the Brahms Double Concerto alongside her sister Margarita with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra at the prestigious L’Auditori in Barcelona, appearances with the Saarbrücken Symphony Orchestra under Sebastian Rouland and with the OrquestaClasica Santa Cecilia with conductor Lavard Skou Larsen.

Kristīne performs on the 1694 'Rutson' Stradivarius violin, kindly loaned to her by the Royal Academy of Music.