Ēriks Ešenvalds

After study at the Latvian Baptist Theological Seminary and the Latvian Academy of Music, Ēriks was a member of the State Choir Latvija. In 2011 he was awarded the two-year position of Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts at Trinity College, University of Cambridge. Ēriks has won multiple awards for his work and undertakes many international residencies working on his music and lecturing.

Ēriks Ešenvalds’ compositions appear on many recordings released by labels such as Decca Classics, Delphian Records, Deutsche Grammophon, Hyperion, Naxos, Ondine, Pentatone, and Signum. To date, nine recordings are devoted exclusively to his work, including Northern Lights from Trinity College Choir Cambridge (Gramophone Award Shortlist, Gramophone Critics’ Choice, ICI Radio-Canada Best Albums Selection), Passion and Resurrection with the Britten Sinfonia and Polyphony, St Luke Passion by the Latvian Radio Choir and Sinfonietta Riga (Gramophone Editor’s Choice, Opera News Critic’s Choice), The Doors of Heaven from Portland State Chamber Choir (Gramophone Editor’s Choice), From the dim and distant past and At the Foot of the Sky by State Choir Latvija (Best Latvian Classical Album of the Year), and O Salutaris by Youth Choir Kamēr... (Best Latvian Classical Album of the Year). There Will Come Soft Rains by Pacific Lutheran University’s Choir of the West was released in early 2020. ​Translations, a new recording by Portland State Chamber Choir is forthcoming.

Ēriks Ešenvalds’ recent premieres include Lakes Awake at Dawn for the Boston Symphony and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Whispers on the Prairie Wind for the Utah Symphony and Salt Lake Vocal Artists, St Luke Passion for the Latvian Radio Choir and Sinfonietta Riga, as well as commissions from the BBC Proms, Gewandhaus Leipzig, and Grant Park Music Festival, Chicago. His full-scale opera The Immured was premiered at the Latvian National Opera in 2016 to great acclaim. 2018 saw the premiere of his second major multimedia symphony based on volcanoes. Nordic Light, his first multimedia symphony on the natural phenomenon of the aurora borealis, was performed in the US, Canada, and Germany, and is the subject of the documentary film Nordic Light: A Composer’s Diary, which follows the composer on his expeditions to the Arctic region.