The Latvian Vineta Sareika-Völkner has been a member of the Berlin Philharmonic since May 2022 Photo: Berlin Philharmonic/dpa
From the BZ editorial team
Violinist Vineta Sareika-Völkner becomes the first female concertmaster in the 140-year history of the Berliner Philharmoniker. She won Friday’s audition for the position.
Sareika-Völkner was born in Jurmala, Latvia. She began playing the violin at the age of five, later studying at the Paris Conservatoire national and at the Belgian Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel.
She was concertmaster of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic (2011-2013) and regularly guest concertmaster of the Royal Opera Orchestra and the Brussels Philharmonic in Brussels.
From 2012 to 2021 she was first violinist in the Artemis Quartet, and from May 2022 she is a member of the Berlin Philharmonic.
Since 2017, Sareika-Völkner has also been a professor of chamber music at the Berlin University of the Arts.