Kristine Balanas
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Balanas received her first violin lessons at the age of seven[3] with Olita Meldere.[4] She later attended the Emīls Dārziņš Specialist Music School and studied with Romans Šnē.[4]
Balanas studied with Professor György Pauk at the Royal Academy of Music in London for her undergraduate degree, and graduated with a Master of Arts in 2014.[5] From 2014 to 2015, she was an Artist-in-Residence at Buckingham University.
Career
Balanas has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, the Moscow Soloists Chamber Orchestra, the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, and the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra.[6] She has performed as a soloist in the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, London Philharmonic, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra, EUYO Symphony Orchestra, Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonietta Riga, and Latvian National Orchestra.[4]
The Guardian's Joe Staines ranked Balanas as the best violinist at the Bishopsgate Institute's 2009 J&A Beare Solo Bach competition, characterising her performance as "outstanding" and "wonderful."[7] The following year she won second place.[8]
Balanas released a music video in April 2018, of her performing Ysaÿe's "Obsession" from his Second Violin Sonata,[9] and including her "dressing up as a violin-hurling femme fatale surrounded by ballet dancers," according to The Strad.[10] In 2020, she released a music video of her performance of Philip Glass' The Baptism.[11]
Honors and awards
- 2004 and 2008, 1st Prize in the Latvian National Competition for Violinists[5][12]
- 2007 12th Kloster Schöntal Violin Competition (1st Prize and 'Virtuoso Prize')[6][12]
- 2010 J & A Beare International Solo Bach Competition, 2nd place[5][8]
- 2011 30th Rudolf Lipizer Violin Competition in Gorizia, Italy, (Fourth prize and best performance of a 20th-century concerto)[6]
- 2015 Julius Isserlis Scholar, Royal Philharmonic Society[5]
- 2017 ARD International Music Competition, Third prize, violin[13][14]
- 2018, elected Associate of the Royal Academy of Music[15]
- 2018 Premio al Talento Joven of the Excelentia Foundation in Madrid, Spain (Winner)[16][17]
