Iveta Apkalna
Since her concert with the Berlin Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado in 2008, Iveta Apkalna has performed with some of the world’s most renowned orchestras, including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich. She has performed with conductors such as Marek Janowski, Kent Nagano, Gustavo Dudamel, Sir Antonio Pappano, Andris Nelsons, Joana Mallwitz, Paavo Järvi, and Mariss Jansons.
As the resident organist of the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Apkalna inaugurated the concert hall on the new Klais organ in 2017. Since then, she has presented world premieres, concerts, and chamber music evenings there.
She is also Artist in Residence at the Konzertkirche Neubrandenburg and artistic director of the international organ music festival ORGANismi in her hometown of Rēzekne.
As the resident organist of the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Apkalna inaugurated the concert hall on the new Klais organ in 2017. Since then, she has presented world premieres, concerts, and chamber music evenings there.
She is also Artist in Residence at the Konzertkirche Neubrandenburg and artistic director of the international organ music festival ORGANismi in her hometown of Rēzekne.
Apkalna collaborates with contemporary composers such as Jörg Widmann, Thierry Escaich, Ēriks Ešenvalds, Philip Glass, and Péter Eötvös; numerous works have been dedicated to her.
In 2005, she became the first organist to receive an ECHO KLASSIK award; she has also been awarded the Grand Latvian Music Award four times and, in 2018, the Order of the Three Stars, Latvia’s highest honor.
As an internationally acclaimed organist, she is often invited to inaugurate new concert organs, including in Katowice, Poland and Kaohsiung, Taiwan. She has released 16 albums to date. In 2025, the documentary film Organ at Night about her work was released.
Iveta Apkalna lives with her family in Berlin and Rīga.
As of May 2026