Margarita Balanas – Assistant Conductor 2024/25

Born in Latvia in 1993, Margarita Balanas first attracted attention as a cellist. She won her first competition at the age of 8 and played at London's Wigmore Hall at 17. She has performed with the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, played in front of King Charles III when he was still Prince Charles, and has been supported by musicians such as Anne-Sophie Mutter, Lynn Harrell and Gautier Capuçon. She often performs with her sister, the violinist Kristīne Balanas.

Margarita Balanas has also attracted attention as a promising conductor - including with the Ensemble Anonimi, which she founded and which experiments with a wide range of styles and concert formats. Since attending the Academy in Pärnu, she has been part of the large extended Järvi family: she has not only worked with Paavo Järvi, but also with his father Neeme Järvi and his brother Kristian Järvi.

Last season, she succeeded Izabelė Jankauskaitė as Assistant Conductor of our Music Director at the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, and the collaboration has now been extended for a second season. Paavo Järvi says that he only selects talented people for these positions who he believes will have a real career as a conductor: "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."

As Assistant Conductor, Margarita Balanas accompanies the rehearsals, compares what she hears with the score, notes technical and interpretative details and checks the sound balance as Paavo Järvi's second pair of ears, so to speak. And she also conducts herself: Last season, she conducted the final concert of the family project "What do you think ocean?". And in the 2024/25 season, she will conduct both the family join-in concert "Thorstein and the Giants" and the final concert of the new children's project "Kunterwunderbunt".

www.margaritabalanas.com