Gints Rācenis

Gints Rācenis (* 1981 in Valka , Latvian SSR ) is a Latvian pianist .

Gints Rācenis comes from a family of musicians and began studying music at the age of 8 at the J. Cimze Music School in his hometown of Valka. From 1996 he continued his education at the music high school named after Emīls Dārziņš (Emīla Dārziņa mūzikas vidusskola) in Riga. After graduating in 2001, Rācenis was accepted at the Hamburg University of Music and Theater and has been studying with Marian Migdal ever since .

Gints Rācenis attended master classes by professors from the Latvian Music Academy such as Teofils Biķis, Ilze Graubiņa, Arnis Zandmanis, as well as with the pianists Arthur Ozolins (Latvia / Canada), John Perry (USA / Canada), Igor Michailowitsch Schukow (Russia), Andrzej Jasiński (Poland) ) and Dominique Merlet (France). In 2006 Gints Rācenis took part in the "International Piano Academy" in Murrhardt and took lessons with Felix Gottlieb, Stanislav Pochekin and Anatol Ugorski .

He achieved his first successes in regional competitions in his home country. In 1998 he won third prize in the International Pianist Competition in Hyères , France. A year later a Grand Prix and a special prize in the international pianist competition "Musical de France" in Paris followed. In 2004, Rācenis won second prize in the Elise Meyer competition at the Hamburg University of Music and Theater and first prize in the international competition "Ostracized Music" in the solo piano category in Schwerin . For his achievements in international competitions he received awards from the Latvian Ministry of Culture in 1998 and 1999, as well as grants from the Franz Wirth Memorial Foundation, the Latvian Community in Germany and a performance grant from the Hamburg University of Music.

Gints Rācenis gave solo evenings in the Baltic States, Denmark and Germany. He also took part in the "Vendsyssel festival" in Denmark and in several Latvian music festivals. He has performed with the symphony orchestra of the Emīla Dārziņa mūzikas vidusskola , with the chamber orchestra of the International Masterclasses of Young Musicians in Ogre and with the Hern Symphony Orchestra. He also gives concerts as an accompanist for instrumentalists and singers.

From 2010 to 2012 he directed the Kulturhausorchester Eppendorf .

Besides classical music, he is also enthusiastic about jazz improvisation and organizes concerts of Latvian music in Hamburg. He leads the Balticoro, a group of singers from Germany, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, as well as the Stephansorchester of the city of Schenefeld .

Web links

• File entry at http://pianonews.de
• Concert report on December 21, 2009
• Concert report from May 16, 2013
• Announcement of the Alfred-Schnittke-Akademie: Gints Racenis as organizer and pianist of a concert on May 19, 2014
• Theater Itzehoe: Concert announcement for December 16, 2014

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Dārziņskolas pārskata koncerts , Diena , May 7, 1999 (Latvian).
2. ↑ http://www.kulturhausorchester.de/wer_wir_sind.htm
3. ↑ Via Balticoro , accessed December 13, 2014.
4. ↑ Orchestra of the Stephanskirche in Schenefeld , accessed on December 13, 2014.