The Latvian organist Iveta Apkalna (organ) is recognised as one of the world’s leading instrumentalists. Her playing combines virtuosity, deep musicality and an extraordinary understanding of style.
Since her concert with the Berliner Philharmoniker under the baton of Claudio Abbado in 2008, Iveta Apkalna has performed with the world’s leading orchestras, including the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich as well as the most important conductors such as Marek Janowski, Kent Nagano, Thomas Hengelbrock, Gustavo Dudamel, Sir Antonio Pappano, Andris Nelsons, Franz Welser-Möst, Joanna Mallwitz, Paavo Järvi and the late Mariss Jansons. She also performs regularly in the most important concert halls in Europe, Asia and North America as well as at renowned music festivals.
As the titular organist of the Klais organ in Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Iveta Apkalna opened the new concert hall in January 2017.
Iveta Apkalna is known for broadening the horizons of organ music with her personality. This is also demonstrated by the significant awards she has received – in 2005 she was the first organist ever to receive an ECHO Klassik award in the ‘Instrumentalist of the Year’ category, she was honoured four times with the Grand Latvian Music Award and was named Latvia’s cultural ambassador. In the year of Latvia’s 100th anniversary, Iveta Apkalna received the Three Star Order of Latvia, the country’s highest state honour.
As an internationally renowned organist, Iveta Apkalna is regularly invited to inaugurate new concert organs. Most recently, she inaugurated the new organ in the concert hall of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (NOSPR) in Katowice, the largest organ in Asia in the Weiwuying Centre for the Arts in Kaohsiung (Taiwan) and the organ in the Konzertkirche in Neubrandenburg.
She also works with important composers such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jörg Widmann, Bernd Richard Deutsch, Thierry Escaich, Naji Hakim, Ēriks Ešenvalds, Pēteris Vasks and Philip Glass. Péter Eötvös also dedicated various works to her.
A highlight of the 2024/2025 season will be the presentation of various concert programmes as a portrait artist at the Kölner Philharmonie. She is invited to music festivals such as the Helsinki Festival, Lucerne Festival, Bratislava Music Festival, Rheingau Musikfestival and the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. She also works with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg,
the Konzerthausorchester Berlin and the NFM Wrozlaw Philharmonic Orchestra. As part of an Asian tour, Iveta Apkalna will perform in Taipei, Seoul, Bucheon and Shanghai.
She has already released 15 albums in CD and DVD format and is the initiator and artistic director of the international organ music festival ‘ORGANismi’, which has been held in her hometown of Rēzekne since 2015. Iveta Apkalna lives with her family in Berlin and Riga.
