Reinis Zarins

Reinis Zarins was born in Riga, Latvia in 1985. At the piano since seven, Reinis has studied music and piano performance in J.Medina and E.Darzina music colleges (Latvia), J.Vitols Latvian Music Academy, and in Yale University School of Music and Royal Academy of Music, London. As a student, Reinis has garnered the first class honours and a 'Student of the Year' title; as a competitor, he has won top prizes in eleven international competitions, including first prizes in B.Smetana International Competition (Czech Republic), Jaques Samuel Piano Competition (UK), and 'Brother and Sister' piano-duo competition in St.Petersburg, (Russia). His main tutors have been Boris Berman, Christopher Elton, Raffi Kharajanyan and Renē Salaks; other formative influences are Claude Frank, Pascal Devoyon, Pierre Boulez, Peter Frankl, Richard Goode, Jesse Levine, Tokyo and Vermeer string quartets.

In Latvia, Reinis performs regularly with all the leading orchestras and as a soloist and chamber musician. His performances are broadcast live on national radio and TV, and in 2012, he has been awarded the Great Music Award, and has been chosen as the Interpreter of the Year by the national radio.

As an international artist, Reinis performs on both sides of the Atlantic, and recently also in South Africa. Exhilarated audiences have heard him as a recitalist, chamber musician and soloist with orchestras in the Baltic States, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany, Ukraine, Finland, Russia, and United States, in such venues as Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall and Steinway Hall in New York, London's Wigmore Hall and St. Petersburg's Glazunov Hall. Reinis has been invited to perform in Lucerne Festival, Bath MusicFest, Yale-Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Norfolk&Norwich Festival (UK), MasterWorks, Kremerata Baltica festival, and Holland Music Sessions. Collaborations with P.Boulez, Peter Eötvös and Ensemble Intercontemporain have strengthened Reinis' interest in the contemporary repertoire and its relationship with the classics.

Reinis Zarins is the recipient of M. Dole, M&D Whyte, E.B.Storrs, B.Simonds, G.W.Miles, Adams, H.Day and J.Burgess scholarships. Presently, he resides in London with his wife and two children.