Baiba Skride was born in 1981 to a musical Latvian family in Riga, where she began her studies, moving in 1995 to the Conservatory of Music and Theatre in Rostock. In 2001, she won the 1st prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition.
In the recent seasons she has appeared with the Sinfonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunk, Munich Philharmonic, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Tonhalle Orchester, Orchestre de Paris, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony, and American orchestras of Philadelphia, Houston, Cincinnati and Detroit. Skride’s work includes collaborations with recognised masters Herbert Blomstedt, Charles Dutoit, Hans Graf, Paavo Järvi, Sir Neville Marriner, Peter Oundjian and Mikhail Pletnev, and her peers: Olari Elts, Mikko Franck, Andris Nelsons and Kirill Petrenko.
The 2007–2008 season will see Baiba Skride busily performing with the New Zealand Symphony under Dimitri Sitkovetsky, in US where she will perform in spring with Minnesota Orchestra and Osmo Vänskä, and in Europe – with Residentie Orkest and Neeme Järvi, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and John Storgårds, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Radio Kamerorkest Nederlands – the last two under the conductor Thierry Fischer. She will also be working with the cellist Sol Gabetta, performing Double concerto by Brahms, making an appearance at the Rheingau Festival with the Russian National Orchestra under Mikhail Pletnev.
Chamber music remains central to Baiba Skride’s musical activity. This season, she will be making a début appearance with her sister, Lauma Skride, in Wigmore Hall (where Baiba shall also appear as a guest with Steven Isserlis), Parisian Musée d’Orsay, Salzburg’s Mozarteum, and Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden. Joined by the cellist Sol Gabetta, they form an increasingly popular trio that will be performing this season at Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Geneva, Hanover, Ludwigsburg, Munich, Warsaw, and at the Schubertiade in Hohenems.
Since 2004, Baiba Skride has recorded for Sony Classical. Her latest disc is the first duo with her sister Lauma (Schubert, Beethoven, Ravel) released in 2007.
Baiba Skride plays the Stradivarius "Wilhelmj" violin (1725), on generous loan from the Nippon Music Foundation.