Around the Music Festival

Vineta Sareika-Völkner, the first female concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, has been invited by Gustavo Dudamel to audition for the concertmaster position of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, where Dudamel serves as music director. She will serve as concertmaster for six performances of Wagner’s “Die Walküre.”

Sareika-Völkner is a 40-year-old born in Jurmala, Latvia. After studying at the Paris National Superior Conservatory of Music and the Queen Elisabeth Conservatory in Belgium, she served as concertmaster of the Royal Flanders Philharmonic Orchestra in Belgium, among other positions, before becoming the first violinist of the Artemis String Quartet in 2012.

Following the dissolution of her string quartet in 2021 and the birth of her child, she joined the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 2022, joining the first violin section. In February 2023, she became the first female concertmaster in the orchestra’s 140-year history, and left the orchestra in February 2025 after her probationary period ended.

PHOTO：Berliner Philharmoniker