Winner of the first prize in the 2001 Queen Elisabeth Competition, Baiba Skride has appeared internationally with orchestras that include the Berlin Philharmonic, Sinfonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunk, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Orchestre de Paris, and London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductors she regularly collaborates with include Thierry Fischer, Paavo Järvi, Neeme Järvi, Andris Nelsons, John Storgårds, and Mario Venzago. In summer 2013 Baiba made her debut at the BBC Proms with the Oslo Philharmonic and Vasily Petrenko. Other season highlights included concerts with the WDR Sinfonieorchester Cologne, Vienna Symphony, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Swedish Radio Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic, and Luxembourg Philharmonic. Chamber music highlights included a trio tour with Daniel Mueller-Schott (cello) and Xavier de Maistre (harp). Skride recently released a Schumann CD on the Orfeo label with the Danish National Symphony and John Storgårds. She has also recorded the Stravinsky and Frank Martin violin concertos, music of Brahms with the Stockholm Philharmonic and Sakari Oramo, Tchaikovsky with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Nelsons, and a duo disc with her sister, the pianist Lauma Skride. Skride was born in Riga where she began her studies, later transferring to the Conservatory of Music and Theatre in Rostock. She plays the Stradivarius “Ex Baron Feilitzsch’’ violin (1734), which is generously on loan to her by Gidon Kremer.