Esa-Pekka Salonen: Sinfonia Concertante
Gabriel Fauré: Requiem
Andris Poga, conductor
Iveta Apkalna, organ
Mari Eriksmoen, soprano
Halvor Melien, baritone
Andris Poga is the Chief Conductor of the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. He was the Music Director of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra from 2013 till 2021 and continues to collaborate with the LNSO as its Artistic Advisor.
Highlights of recent years have included concerts with the leading orchestras of Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Scandinavia. After the first successful collaborations he has become a regular guest at the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester Hamburg, WDR Sinfonieorchester Cologne, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo and many others. He has also conducted the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Gewandhausorchester, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony, Dallas Symphony.
The season of 2024/25 includes the subscription concert series with both the SSO and LNSO, returns to the Orchestre National de France, WDR Sinfonieorchester, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Hamburg Symphoniker among others. Andris will make his debuts with the Iceland Symphony, Turku Philharmonic, Düsseldorf Symphony and other orchestras in Europe and Japan. The notable soloists will include instrumentalists Frank Peter Zimmermann, David Fray, Jan Lisiecki, Jean-Guihen Queyras and singers Julia Bullock, Miina-Liisa Värelä, Alfred Walker.
In 2010, Andris Poga was the First Prize winner of the Evgeny Svetlanov International Conducting Competition, which thrust him into the international scene. He became an assistant to Paavo Järvi at the Orchestre de Paris and he also served as the assistant conductor for the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Andris has graduated the conducting department of the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music. He studied philosophy at the University of Latvia and conducting at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts.
“She plays the queen of instruments and is herself a queen amongst queens,” wrote critics in January 2025.
Latvian organist Iveta Apkalna is among the world’s leading instrumentalists. Her playing combines
virtuosity with outstanding stylistic understanding and emotional depth.
Since her concert with the Berlin Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado in 2008, Iveta Apkalna has appeared
with the most internationally acclaimed orchestras, including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra,
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Cleveland
Orchestra, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich. She has
worked with distinguished conductors including Marek Janowski, Kent Nagano, Thomas Hengelbrock,
Gustavo Dudamel, Sir Antonio Pappano, Andris Nelsons, Joanna Mallwitz, Paavo Järvi and the late Mariss
Jansons. She regularly performs at Europe’s, Asia’s and North America’s most important concert halls and
festivals.
As principal organist at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Iveta Apkalna opened the concert hall in January 2017
with the new Klais organ. Since then, she has presented unique world premières, organ concerts, solo
recitals and chamber music evenings there. She has also been Artist in Residence at Neubrandenburg
Concert Church with the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Festival since 2019.
Last season’s highlights included appearances as portrait artist at Cologne Philharmonie, an invitation to
perform the Sinfonia Concertante with Chicago Symphony Orchestra under composer Esa-Pekka Salonen,
a tour with Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra under Gustavo Gimeno, and performances with
Konzerthausorchester Berlin under Joana Mallwitz. Iveta Apkalna gave solo recitals during an Asian tour
taking in Taipei, Seoul and Bucheon, and appeared at festivals in Helsinki, Lucerne, Bratislava and the
Rheingau.
The 2025/26 season brings solo concerts at Tonhalle Zurich, Salzburg’s Mozarteum, Ljubljana and the
Heidelberg Spring Festival, plus concerts with State Choir Latvija at Frankfurt’s Alte Oper, the concert halls
in Dortmund and Vienna, and London’s Southbank Centre. She will also perform with Orchestre de
Chambre de Paris under Thomas Hengelbrock and inaugurate the new Grenzing organ at Prague’s historic
St Vitus Church.
Iveta Apkalna is celebrated for broadening organ music’s horizons through her artistry. She collaborates
with leading composers including Jörg Widmann, Bernd Richard Deutsch, Thierry Escaich, Naji Hakim,
Ēriks Ešenvalds, Pēteris Vasks, Philip Glass and Péter Eötvös, with numerous works dedicated to her.
Her exceptional contribution to music is recognised through countless awards: in 2005 she became the first
organist ever to receive an ECHO Klassik as “Instrumentalist of the Year”. She has won the Grand Latvian
Music Award four times and been appointed Latvia’s cultural ambassador. In Latvia’s centenary year, she
received the Order of the Three Stars of Latvia in 2018 – the country’s highest state honour.
As an internationally celebrated organist, Iveta Apkalna is regularly invited to inaugurate new concert
organs. Recent openings include the new organ at Katowice’s Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra
(NOSPR) concert hall in 2023, Asia’s largest organ at Kaohsiung’s Weiwuying Center for the Arts in Taiwan
(2018), and the organ at Neubrandenburg Concert Church to launch her residency.
She has released 15 albums on CD and DVD and founded the International Organ Music Festival
“ORGANismi”, held annually in her hometown of Rēzekne since 2015. Two new recordings are due shortly
on Berlin Classics.
The documentary film “Organ at Night”, focusing on this extraordinary musician’s artistry, will have its
première soon.
Iveta Apkalna lives with her family in Berlin and Rīga.
Almost immediately on completion of her vocal studies in Oslo (Norwegian Academy of Music), Paris (Conservatoire National Superieur) and then Copenhagen (Royal Danish Academy of Opera), young Norwegian soprano Mari Eriksmoen found herself with a dream offer to sing Zerbinetta in Theater an der Wien’s production of Ariadne auf Naxos which marked the start of a close relationship with this major theatre. Eriksmoen’s frequent return visits to Vienna have included Olympia (Les contes d’Hoffmann), Euridice (Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo), Teti (Rossini’s Le nozze di Teti e di Peleo) and Rosina (Paisiello’s Il barbiere di Siviglia), and she attracted wide attention and received universal praise for her portrayals of Susanna, Zerlina and Fiordiligi in a cycle of Mozart’s Da Ponte operas together with the late Nikolaus Harnoncourt in performances broadcast throughout Europe on both radio and television.
Other key appearances in recent seasons have included Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, The Norwegian Opera and last season at Opernhaus Zurich under General Music Director Fabio Luisi, Blondchen (Die Entführung aus dem Serail) at Oper Frankfurt, Glyndebourne Festival and at the 2015 BBC Proms, and in a display of repertoire versatility Eriksmoen has also appeared as Waldvogel in Wagner’s Siegfried as part of Daniel Barenboim’s epic Ring Cycles at Teatro alla Scala. Other roles include Fiakermilli (Arabella), Adele (Die Fledermaus), Amore and Euridice (Orfeo), Sandrina (L’infedelta delusa), Soeur Constance (Les Dialogues des Carmélites), and last season she had a major success as La Fée in Damiano Michieletto’s production of Cendrillon at Komische Oper Berlin under Henrik Nanasí.
Halvor F. Melien (baritone) is a Norwegian concert and opera singer, working in Europe. He studied at the Norwegian Academy of Music. In 2015/-16 he was part of the soloist ensemble at The Norwegian National Opera in Oslo. He has a broad concert repertoire, spanning from the 17th century till today, and has particularly devoted time to Bach’s music.
Halvor has worked with all Norwegian symphony orchestras and with ensembles such as BBC Philharmonic, Les Talens Lyriques, Concertgebouw Kamerorkest, Musica Saeculorum, Taverner Consort, Danish National Orchestra, Slovenian Philharmonic, Ho Chi Minh City Symphony Orchestra, Academia Montis Regalis, Oslo Sinfonietta, Trondheimsolistene, The Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Barokkanerne and several others.
Halvor has contributed to a number of CD recordings, including Kurt Weill’s Die Sieben Todsünden with Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, John Frandsens Requiem with Danish National Orchestra and Knut Vaages Høgsongen. He has also worked extensively with new music, and has premiered pieces written for him by Ørjan Matre, Eivind Buene, Øyvind Mæland and others.
The german art song genre is important for Halvor. He is currently working with several Lied projects, performing music by Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Mahler and Webern.
