This album by pianist Reinis Zariņš and the Trio Palladio is a special personal tribute to composer Arvo Pärt (b. 1935), one of the most influential composers of our time. This album includes Pärt’s timeless piano works together with a selection of his chamber works, including the famous Für Alina, Fratres and Spiegel im Spiegel alongside his early works. The programme also includes two special dedications by two Latvian composers, Georgs Pelēcis and Andrejs Selickis, who both as composers have been greatly influenced by Arvo Pärt’s example and ideas. These two works, written in 2025 for Arvo Pärt’s 90th birthday, receive their first recordings.

Ever since his concerto debut at the age of nine, Latvian pianist Reinis Zariņš has performed as a concerto soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician throughout Europe and North America, as well as the Far East. He has participated in prestigious music festivals including the Lucerne Festival, the Bath International Music Festival, and the Scotia Festival of Music. His thoughtful virtuosity has delighted audiences at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, London’s Wigmore hall, New York’s Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and Seoul Arts Center. Reinis has collaborated with leading orchestras including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Kremerata Baltica, as well as all Latvian and Lithuanian orchestras, and with conductors Pierre Boulez, Peter Eötvös, Pablo Heras-Casado, and Andris Poga, among others. Among Reinis’s chamber music partners are Viktoria Mullova, Gidon Kremer, Matthew Barley, Ksenija Sidorova, Ashley Bathgate, as well as his Trio Palladio. His performances have been broadcast live by BBC Radio 3, NDR, Polish National Radio, and King FM. Reinis Zariņš regularly performs in his native Latvia and has won the country’s Grand Music Award five times. For his service to Latvian culture, Reinis has been awarded the Order of the Three Stars. Following his foundational studies in Latvia, Reinis won several scholarships to refine his talent at the Yale School of Music in the USA and the Royal Academy of Music in London. His most important teachers have included Boris Berman, Raffi Kharajanyan, Christopher Elton, and Renē Salaks.

Trio Palladio unites three distinguished Latvian soloists, devoted chamber musicians and acclaimed recording artists: violinist Eva Bindere, cellist Kristina Blaumane, and pianist Reinis Zariņš. Each is a laureate of the Grand Music Award of Latvia, and in 2024 they received this prestigious honour as a trio. The ensemble’s Wigmore Hall debut was praised as “excellent” by The Times, while their first album – Vasks’s music for piano trio for Ondine – was named Gramophone Editor’s Choice. Trio Palladio is known for crafting conceptual programmes that span Classical, Romantic and contemporary repertoire, with a particular commitment to music by Latvian and Baltic composers.