Biography

Violinist Vineta Sareika's multi-faceted career spans a wide range of activities from Primaria of the Artemis Quartet to soloist and recitalist. Laureate of the Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition and several ECHO CLASSIC Awards, she has been performing as a soloist with the leading european orchestras and working as the first concert master of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic. In addition to her concert activities, Vineta is teaching chamber music at the Universität der Künste Berlin and at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium. Vineta Sareika plays an Antonio Stradivari violin (1683), generously on loan to her from the Ruggieri Foundation.

Education

A native of Jurmala (Latvia), Vineta Sareika began her violin studies at the age of 5. She studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris with Gérard Poulet and at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel with Augustin Dumay. Sareika has attended the master classes of, among others, Ida Haendel, Ivry Gitlis, Zakhar Bron, Mauricio Fuks and Sergey Krylov.

Soloist

Since becoming a laureate of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels in 2009, Sareika has been invited to perform as a soloist by renowned orchestras such as the London Philharmonia, Belgian National Orchestra, Royal Flemish Philharmonic, Lisbon Philharmonic, Latvian National Orchestra and London Chamber Orchestra. She has worked with conductors such as Andris Nelsons, Paul Goodwin, Gilbert Varga, Jean-Bernard Pommier and Gérard Korsten, and performs regularly on famous stages such as Carnegie Hall, Berlin Philharmonie, Sidney Recital Hall, Kennedy Center Washington, Wigmore Hall London or Isumi Hall Osaka.

Vineta Sareika has received the Award of the Ministry of Culture of Latvia, she was named the Instrumentalist of the Year 2009 by the Latvian Radio and was recently honored with the Great Music Award, the most prestigious cultural award of the country. She is also regularly invited by the latvian government and embassies to give performances for the major national events such as official Presidential and Royal visits.

Chamber music

Since 2012 Vineta Sareika is the primaria of the Artemis Quartet. Laureat of international prizes, member of the 'Verein Beethoven-Haus' of Bonn, the Artemis Quartet performs today in the main concert venues in the world, produces it's own concert series in Berlin Philharmonie, records exclusively for Warner Classics and teaches at the Universität der Künste of Berlin. The quartet is also in residence at the Vienna Konzerthaus.

Since 2006 Vineta performs regularly together with the french pianist Amandine Savary, forming a permanent ensemble based on a strong friendship and a common devotion to chamber music and the vaste duo repertoire. They were both founding members of Trio Dali, in which a productive seven years long collaboration led to success in competitions in New York, Osaka, Frankfurt and Vienna, two recordings for Fuga Libera, highly acclaimed by the critics (Diapason d'Or, Choc of the Year of Classica, Editor's Choice of Gramophone) and succesful concerts worldwide.
Vineta collaborates also with artists such as Augustin Dumay, Michel Portal, Alexander Lonquich, Gautier Capuçon, Elisabeth Leonskaya, Peter Donohoe, Quatuor Ebène, Abdel-Rahman El Bacha, Paul Watkins, Laurence Power or Paul Meyer.

Orchestra concertmaster

Passionate about the symphonic repertoire, Vineta Sareika has also developed a career as a concertmaster. From 2011 to 2013 she worked as principal concertmaster of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic under the direction of Edo de Waart and Philippe Herreweghe. In the past years Vineta was also regularly invited as guest concertmaster by the Brussels Royal Opera Orchestra and the Brussels Philharmonic, she has also led the Vienna Philharmonic International Youth Orchestra, the Riga Festival Orchestra and the Santander International Festival Orchestra. As a concertmaster Vineta has collaborated with such conductors as Riccardo Muti, Donald Runnicles, Kurt Masur, Jaap van Zweden and Andris Poga.

Teaching

Vineta Sareika is teaching chamber music at the Universität der Künste Berlin and the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium. She has given masterclasses at the Sydney and Melbourne Conservatories, London Royal Academy of Music, Nashville Vanderbilt University, Jerusalem Music Center and Weikersheim International Chamber music course.