Iveta Apkalna Presented by Liszt Academy

For a long time, the organ was considered an unapproachable instrument of concert life, something that at best we heard in the auditorium or church, while the person operating the vast machinery was always a tiny figure ‘somewhere up above’. Then, along came a younger generation, which brought this superb and astonishingly multifaceted instrument ‘down to earth’ with innovative programmes and an informal performance style. One of these artists is Latvia-born Iveta Apkalna, one of Europe’s most recognized organists and resident artist of the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie. The core of her beautiful programme is provided by the magnificent series by Bach known as the Schübler Chorales and the Liszt work written for the inauguration of the organ in Riga cathedral, performed as an overture. The contemporary trend is represented through the compositions of the 75-year-old Pēteris Vasks, a very significant Latvian composer, which occupy a prominent place in the repertoire of Apkalna.