Draft:Kristaps Petersons

Kristaps Petersons (Latvian: Kristaps Pētersons; born May 6, 1982, Valmiera) is a Latvian double bassist and composer.

Life and career
Petersons graduated from the Latvian Academy of Music from the double bass class of Sergei Brinums (2005, bachelor's degree) and also the composition class of Romuald Kalsons (2007, master's degree). He has been playing the double bass in the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra since 2005, and in the Kremerata Baltika Orchestra since 2015.

As a composer he attracted international attention with his composition “Twilight chants” (2009) for two choir groups and double bass, based on poems by Rumi. It was first performed by the Latvian Radio Choir under the direction of Sigvards Klava (Latvian: Sigvards Kļava) in Amsterdam, and then again a year later (2010) in Lisbon, where the composition received a prize at the forum “The International Rostrum of Composers” (IRC) as the best composition written by an author under 30 years of age.

In 2014 he presented the chamber opera “Mikhail and Mikhail are Playing Chess” (Latvian: Mihails un Mihails spēlē šahu) at the Latvian: National Opera. The opera featured Mikhail Botvinnik and Mikhail Tal with a libretto by Sergei Timofeev. It received the highest Latvian music award – the Grand Music Award (Latvian: Lielā mūzikas balva) in the category “Production of the Year”.

Petersons is also the author to a number of musical and artistic performances. In 2017 together with the artists Kriss Salmanis and Anna Salmane he was awarded the Purvītis Prize - the main national award in the field of contemporary art for their joint work “Song” (Latvian: Dziesma). The work was presented at the Latvian National Museum of Art and represented a reflection on all of the Latvian Song and Dance Festivals. Petersons wrote a conceptual choral work for this event.