Ēriks Ešenvalds Composer

Ēriks Ešenvalds is amongst the most sought-after composers working today. Widely performed and recorded, his works span choral, orchestral, stage, and film. Ešenvalds is a popular speaker, which he often combines with leading masterclasses and conducting.

Born in Priekule, Latvia in 1977, Ešenvalds studied at the Latvian Academy of Music where he now teaches. He was a member of the Latvian State Choir and Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts at Trinity College Cambridge.

His music has been performed at many notable venues around the world including Carnegie Hall, Boston Symphony Hall, the Royal Albert Hall, Wigmore Hall, Birmingham Symphony Hall, The Concertgebouw, the Berliner Philharmonie, Elbphilharmonie, Gewandhaus, Musikverein, NCPA Beijing, Tokyo Opera City, and Sydney Opera House.

Ešenvalds’ large-scale premieres include Lakes Awake at Dawn for the Boston Symphony Orchestra and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, The Pleiades for the Grant Park Music Festival, A Shadow for the BBC Proms, Dreams Under Your Feet for the Gewandhaus, Whispers on the Prairie Wind for the Utah Symphony and ACDA Conference festival choir, Visions of Arctic: Night and Sea for the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra, and the multimedia symphonies Nordic Light and Volcano Symphony.

Ešenvalds’ most recent symphony The Waters Have Begun to Surge was premiered during his 2023/24 residency with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra. His organ concerto Voice of the Ocean received its US premiere in 2023 and its Swiss premiere in 2024 with Iveta Apkalna and musicians of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich respectively, following performances with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony under Dima Slobodeniouk, Kremerata Baltica, and the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra with Kadri Toomoja under Tõnu Kaljuste. In 2025, Fanfare received its Polish premiere with the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic and Clouds was performed by the Wiener Symphoniker.

Ešenvalds has composed two Eastertide oratorios: Passion and Resurrection and St Luke Passion. In 2026, Passion and Resurrection was performed by the Slovenian Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra directed by Stephen Layton, following performances under Layton by the Sydney Philharmonic Choirs and Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Polyphony with Britten Sinfonia. Amongst his sacred works are In paradisum for the Latvian State Choir, Aqua for Britten Sinfonia, and Psalm 67, first performed by Polyphony. Songs of David, a setting of three Psalms for soprano, saxophone, and organ, was performed in Riga Cathedral in 2025.

His liturgical commissions include Trinity Te Deum for Trinity College Cambridge on the occasion of the installation of its new college master, Merton College Service: Magnificat & Nunc dimittis for the 750th anniversary of Merton College Oxford, and O Emmanuel for Merton College Oxford’s Seven Advent Antiphons. To date, he has composed three masses: Mass of the Eternal Flame for Christ Church Cathedral Houston, Saint Philip’s Missa brevis for Saint Philip’s in the Hills in Tucson, and Zurich Mass for Liebfrauen Zürich.

Amongst Ešenvalds’ larger choral works are The First Tears, Sun Dogs, and Legend of the Walled-in Woman for the Latvian Radio Choir, Vineta for the Bavarian Radio Choir and Seneca’s Zodiac for The Crossing. Stars Crossing in the Sky, a setting of Latvian folk texts, was premiered by thousands of singers at the Latvian Song Festival, one of the largest choral events in the world with nearly one in four Latvians attending. His most performed shorter choral pieces include Stars, O salutaris hostia, Only in Sleep, Northern Lights, and Long Road. Earth Teach Me Quiet on the Grammy-nominated album Rising w/ The Crossing was selected amongst The New York Times 25 Best Classical Music Tracks of 2020.

Ešenvalds has been commissioned by the national youth choirs of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. His arrangement of the Swedish folksong Who Can Sail Without the Wind? was commissioned for performance by the Netherlands Children’s Choir and harpist Lavinia Meijer on National Remembrance Day of the Netherlands with the King and Queen and Prime Minister present and live broadcast on national television. In 2025, the Knabenkantorei Basel premiered Erdbibdem on the 1356 Basel earthquake in Stadtcasino Basel.

Amongst Ešenvalds’ chamber works are Water Lillies for male voice and piano, a commission for Independent Opera at Wigmore Hall, The Morning Mist for violin and piano, first performed by Duo Kirsanova-Lewis in Melbourne Recital Hall, and an arrangement of Silent Night for violin, cello, and chamber orchestra commissioned by Decca Classics for the Balanas sisters.

His works for stage include the full-scale opera The Immured for the Latvian National Opera, Rainis’ 1911 play Indulis & Ārija for the Latvian National Theatre and State Choir, and the forthcoming ballet Constellation of Longing, to be premiered with the Latvian National Ballet in 2027. Ešenvalds has composed the scores for the feature films Dawn of War and Mellow Mud.

Upcoming premieres include Ceremony of Swans, a Musica Viva Australia commission for the Latvian Radio Choir and Genevieve Lacey based on a text by Alexis Wright, with performances in six cities across Australia.

His music is widely recorded, including eleven albums devoted exclusively to his work. An award-winning composer, Ešenvalds was decorated by his home country for services to music. He lives near Riga and is married with four children.

Podium Music manages Ešenvalds’ commission and workshop schedule. He is exclusively published by Musica Baltica.