BIOGRAPHY
Violinist Magdalēna Geka enjoys a busy and eclectic career and has performed in many prestigious European venues: Wigmore Hall and Southbank Centre in London, UK; Auditorium du Louvre in Paris, France; Verbier Festival, Switzerland or Kuhmo Festival in Finland. She is a winner of the Parkhouse Award in London, the International Marschner Competition in Germany and, most recently the Pro Musicis prize and the Académie des Beaux-Arts prize. Her first albums are to be released shortly – an album dedicated to the violin sonatas of the Latvian composer Maija Einfelde (Skani, November 2021), and “Sonatas and Rhapsodies” for violin and piano by Béla Bartók (Paraty, Spring 2022).
Ms.Geka has performed most of the major violin concerti with many orchestras in Latvia, France, Ukraine and Germany. She has been nominated twice for the Latvian Grand Music Award (Lielā Mūzikas balva). First in 2014 as the Young Artist of the Year, after her highly acclaimed debut with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, stepping in as a soloist on a short notice. And in 2020 for an Excellent Performance following a recital dedicated to Latvian music and organized by the Peteris Vasks Foundation.
As a member of the Trio Sōra, she embarked upon a successful career, winning special prizes of the Aix-en-Provence, Verbier and Kuhmo Festivals and performing in most European countries as well as in New York and Australia to great acclaim. Ms.Geka has been invited to perform as a young artist at the prestigious Kuhmo Festival in Finland, Musique à Giverny Festival in France, and was part of the Newport Music Festival Young Professional Artists program in the USA. She was the founder and artistic director of chamber music festivals in Saulkrasti and Ventspils, Latvia, which give the opportunity for young Latvian musicians to return to their home country to perform. Currently she is a member of the Trio Carmine (with Anna Gagane – clarinet, and Lukas Loss – piano), as well as Quatuor Libra (with Josquin Otal – piano, Elia Cohen Weissert –cello and Hortense Fourrier – viola), and performs regularly with the pianists Kishin Nagai (duo Jalef) and Iveta Calite.
Ms. Geka performs regularly as the concertmaster of Orchestre Hexagone, Orchestre de Chambre Nouvelle Europe and Ensemble Appassionato, with acclaimed soloists, such as the singers Andrea Bocelli and Philippe Jaroussky. She was a member and guest concertmaster of the Kremerata Baltica chamber orchestra, working closely with Gidon Kremer, and a trainee at the Orchestre Philharmonique Radio France Academy in 2014 and 2015. Starting September 2021 she is the only participant of a unique concertmaster training course, a partnership between CNSMD of Lyon and Orchestre National d’Auvergne in France. She also enjoys performing contemporary music, having collaborated with such composers as Peteris Vasks, Platons Buravickis, Eric Tanguy, Camille Pépin, Santa Buss and Gabriel Sivak, and has to-date premiered around forty works for violin solo or in ensemble.
A native of Latvia, she moved to Paris, France in order to pursue her violin studies at the age of 16. Ms. Geka holds a Master’s degree in both Violin and Chamber Music from the Paris National Conservatoire, as well as Artist Diplomas from both CNSM de Paris and the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium. Her mentors include Ebène and Artemis Quartets as well as Svetlin Roussev, Wolfgang Marschner and Philippe Graffin. Ms. Geka plays an Alessandro Gagliano 1734 violin generously loaned through the Anima Music Foundation, as well as a modern violin made by Philippe Mahu.