“powerful, delicate, intense and brilliant” (GLAM Adelaide)
“Margarita demonstrated fantastic control over the orchestra as she took it from the solemn dissonance of the opening to the expanding sense of meditative serenity” (The Arts Desk)
“The latest voice in the dialogue about what the future of classical music might look like” (The Arts Desk)
"It's more mysterious than ever today what it takes to be a conductor, but you can tell straight away whether someone has that certain something. Margarita Balanas has it." (Paavo Järvi)
Latvian cellist and conductor Margarita Balanas has performed at venues including Carnegie Hall, Berliner Philharmonie, Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall, Foundation Louis Vuitton, Walt Disney Hall and L’Auditori Barcelona.
Recipient of Latvian Grand Music Award, Margarita has performed as a soloist with renowned orchestras including The Munich Philharmonic, Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonietta Riga, Saarbrucken Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Philharmonie Merck, and has participated in acclaimed festivals including Dresdner Musikfestspiele, Piatigorsky International Cello Festival, International Cello Festival Shanghai, Festival Radio France Occitanie Montpellier.
Margarita Balanas is the assistant conductor of Paavo Järvi at the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich in season 23/24 and has recently been invited to extend her position for the season 24/25. She is the founder and music director of the ANONIMI orchestra and charity, and has conducted the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Orquestra do Algarve, the Royal Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra, Glover-Edwards Symphony Orchestra, Baltic Sea Philharmonic and Järvi Academy Orchestra and Sinfonietta. Margarita has received mentorship and guidance from Paavo Järvi, Ben Palmer, Sigmund Thorp, Neeme Järvi and Leonid Grin and was selected for Professional Diploma studies in conducting at the Royal Academy of Music in London under Sian Edwards.
This season’s highlights include Schumann concerto performances with the Deutsche Philharmonie Merck and conductor Ben Palmer, and with Liepaja Symphony Orchestra and conductor Guntis Kuzma at 143rd Season Closing concert; Saint- Saens concerto No.1 performance with Fidelio Orchestra and conductor Raffaello Morales, as well as participation in Dresdner Musikfestspiele and Moritzburg Festival together with her sister Kristine Balanas.
Margarita will conduct the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and work closely with composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir on her music as well as direct other performances in the season 24/25. Margarita will be conduct ANONIMI in performances in London and have her conducting debut with Orquestra Do Algarve featuring her violinist sister Kristīne Balanas as soloist in Beethoven violin concerto in Portugal and Spain.
Margarita is a recognised guest artist for Classic FM, Scala Radio, BBC Radio 3 In Tune. Her debut album of Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto No.1 and other works with Linn Records has since been featured on some of the most exciting Apple Music playlists such as ‘Classical You Must Hear This Month’, ‘Women in Classical Music’ and ‘The A-List Classical’. Margarita toured the U.S. and Europe with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and the Mutter Virtuosi and recorded for Deutsche Grammophon at Musikverein.
Margarita currently plays the Charles-Adolphe Gand ‘Auguste Tolbecque’ 1849 cello kindly on loan from The Little Butterfly Foundation. Camille Saint-Saëns wrote his cello Concerto No. 1 for Tolbecque who premiered the concerto on this cello in 1873.