Silvestrs Kalnins

Silvestrs Kalnins

Key Facts

  • Instrument: Cello

Biography

Latvian cellist Silvestrs Kalnins is a winner of many international competitions. He began playing the cello at the age of five and is currently studying towards a Master’s degree with Melissa Phelps at the Royal College of Music on a full scholarship, having received his Bachelor of Music with First Class Honours. His studies are generously supported by The Countess of Munster Musical Trust, Help Musicians UK, the Musicians’ Company and The Stephen Bell Charitable Trust.

Silvestrs was awarded 1st prize in the Karl Davidov International Cello Competition, 2014, the Inese Galante Foundation Competition, 2016 and the RCM String Quartet Competition in 2018. In 2018 he was also awarded the Raphael Sommer Trust Award and in 2021 he won a Musician’s Company Award for postgraduate study.

He has had masterclasses with Frans Helmerson, Torleif Thedeen, Alina Ibragimova, Marko Ylonen, Sennu Laine, Denis Severin, Leonard Elschenbroich amongst others.

As well as his love for solo performing, he is a very passionate and experienced chamber and orchestral musician, having performed with various artists including Thomas Carroll, Marta Gulyas, Arisa Fujita, Nobuko Imai, Avri Levitan, Hansjorg Schellenberger, Cecilia Zilliacus and was a member of the prize winning Artha String Quartet. He has performed at venues such as the Wigmore Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin Konzerthaus, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and has been invited to perform in the Chipping Campden, Maiastra and Musethica Chamber Music Festivals. In 2019 he was invited to perform at the Clarence House for HRH The Prince of Wales. Silvestrs was a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra, where he worked with conductors such as Manfred Honeck, Stéphane Denève, Gianandrea Noseda and Vasily Petrenko. In 2020/21 he was on the Evolve Scheme at the English National Opera, but this year he is a recipient of the Philharmonia Orchestra MMSF Fellowship.

 Silvestrs plays on a cello made in Venice by Matteo Goffriller, kindly loaned by the RCM.

 

Musicians’ Company Award: Musicians’ Company Award 2021 (Strings)

Page Updated: Feb 2022

Photo Credit: None