“She plays the queen of instruments and is herself a queen amongst queens,” wrote critics in January 2025. Latvian organist Iveta Apkalna is among the world’s leading instrumentalists. Her playing combines virtuosity with outstanding stylistic understanding and emotional depth.

Since her concert with the Berlin Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado in 2008, Iveta Apkalna has appeared with the most internationally acclaimed orchestras, including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich. She has worked with distinguished conductors including Marek Janowski, Kent Nagano, Thomas Hengelbrock, Gustavo Dudamel, Sir Antonio Pappano, Andris Nelsons, Joanna Mallwitz, Paavo Järvi and the late Mariss Jansons. She regularly performs at Europe’s, Asia’s and North America’s most important concert halls and festivals.

As principal organist at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Iveta Apkalna opened the concert hall in January 2017 with the new Klais organ. Since then, she has presented unique world premières, organ concerts, solo recitals and chamber music evenings there. She has also been Artist in Residence at Neubrandenburg Concert Church with the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Festival since 2019.

Last season’s highlights included appearances as portrait artist at Cologne Philharmonie, an invitation to perform the Sinfonia Concertante with Chicago Symphony Orchestra under composer Esa-Pekka Salonen, a tour with Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra under Gustavo Gimeno, and performances with Konzerthausorchester Berlin under Joana Mallwitz. Iveta Apkalna gave solo recitals during an Asian tour taking in Taipei, Seoul and Bucheon, and appeared at festivals in Helsinki, Lucerne, Bratislava and the Rheingau.

The 2025/26 season brings solo concerts at Tonhalle Zurich, Salzburg’s Mozarteum, Ljubljana and the Heidelberg Spring Festival, plus concerts with State Choir Latvija at Frankfurt’s Alte Oper, the concert halls in Dortmund and Vienna, and London’s Southbank Centre. She will also perform with Orchestre de Chambre de Paris under Thomas Hengelbrock and inaugurate the new Grenzing organ at Prague’s historic St Vitus Church.

Iveta Apkalna is celebrated for broadening organ music’s horizons through her artistry. She collaborates with leading composers including Jörg Widmann, Bernd Richard Deutsch, Thierry Escaich, Naji Hakim, Ēriks Ešenvalds, Pēteris Vasks, Philip Glass and Péter Eötvös, with numerous works dedicated to her.

Her exceptional contribution to music is recognised through countless awards: in 2005 she became the first organist ever to receive an ECHO Klassik as “Instrumentalist of the Year”. She has won the Grand Latvian Music Award four times and been appointed Latvia’s cultural ambassador. In Latvia’s centenary year, she received the Order of the Three Stars of Latvia in 2018 – the country’s highest state honour.

As an internationally celebrated organist, Iveta Apkalna is regularly invited to inaugurate new concert organs. Recent openings include the new organ at Katowice’s Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (NOSPR) concert hall in 2023, Asia’s largest organ at Kaohsiung’s Weiwuying Center for the Arts in Taiwan (2018), and the organ at Neubrandenburg Concert Church to launch her residency.

She has released 15 albums on CD and DVD and founded the International Organ Music Festival “ORGANismi”, held annually in her hometown of Rēzekne since 2015. Two new recordings are due shortly on Berlin Classics.

The documentary film “Organ at Night”, focusing on this extraordinary musician’s artistry, will have its première soon.

Iveta Apkalna lives with her family in Berlin and Rīga.

[Revised 10 September 2025. Please disregard any pre-existing biographical information. Thank you.]