Juris Azers | Percussion

The Latvian percussionist Juris Azers has rapidly proven himself as a brilliant soloist, chamber musician and author of conceptual, gripping concert programs. He involves himself in multi-disciplinary collaboration with other arts, and in the performance and promotion of newly written music.

Juris received his musical education at Emīls Dārziņš Music School in Riga, under Dzintra Knābe, LUCA School of Arts, Campus Lemmensinstituut in Leuven, with Ludwig Albert, Lin Chin Chen, Luk Artois, and in 2021 received his master’s degree from the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin  studying under Li Biao, Rainer Seegers, Franz Schindelbeck. He has mastered his skills with such percussion greats as Pius Cheng, Jonathan Haas, Emanuel Sejourne, She-e Wu, Frederic Macarez, Ludwig Albert, Eriko Daimo, Axom Duo, Andrei Pushkarev, Michael Burritt and others. Juris is a laureate of several international competitions, which include Universal Marimba Competition in Belgium, 2017 (semi-finalist), International Percussion Competition in Italy, 2012 (1st prize), and the 4th International Percussion Competition of Jonas Talocka in Lithuania, 2011 (3rd prize). For the concert Texture of Groove with the percussionist Guntars Freibergs, Juris was nominated for the 2018 Latvian Grand Music Award, the highest music award in Latvia, in the category Outstanding Ensemble Work. In 2013 Juris received an award from the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia for his musical achievements.

Juris has performed as a chamber musician with the Zafraan Ensemble, Ensemble KNM Berlin, modern art ensemble, the Reinhard Toriser’s ensemble Brasscussion, and the Li Biao Percussion Group. Bewteen 2014-2016 Juris was a member of the Belgian Marimba Group, and he is currently a member of the ensemble Unitedberlin under the artistic direction of Vladimir Jurowski, having performed at the Konzerthaus Berlin, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Beethoven Festival in Bonn and Drugoe Prostranstvo Festival in Moscow among others. In March 2022 Juris Azers gave his solo debut at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, performing Rebounds by Iannis Xenakis in the concert Energeia -  Hommage à Xenakis of the unitedberlin.

With percussionist Minhye Ko in 2018 he played live at the RBB Kulturradio (Die Absolventen) and also at the concert series Exzellenz-Konzerte under the patronage of Daniel Barenboim at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin. In 2018 Juris and the Latvian percussionist Guntars Freibergs started actively performing original chamber music for percussion duo, creating unique programs and playing them in notable concert venues and festivals, among them was the Modern Music Festival deciBels in Riga. In 2021 together with Guntars Freibergs and pianists Cheng Zhang and Elīna Bērtiņa they created and performed the concert program Bernstein. Crumb. America. at the Latvija concert hall. The same year they were nominated for the Latvian public broadcaster’s annual award in culture Kilograms kultūras 2021 for the program Auznieks_Bartok_Crumb at the Cēsis concert hall with Guntars Freibergs, Elīna Bērtiņa and Agnese Egliņa. In April 2021 Juris had the honour to open the Latvian New Music Days festival together with percussionist Guntars Freibergs and pianists Agnese Egliņa and Rihards Plešanovs with the program Piano Phase, presenting music by Steve Reich and new works by young Latvian composers.

His multidisciplinary collaborations include a project with the Berlin-based director Margo Zalite in a Fluxus nano-opera performance At Home/Not at Home, presented at the Latvian National Art Museum as part of the travelling Exhibition PORTABLE LANDSCAPES. In 2021 with the ensemble unitedberlin under the baton of Christoph Breidler he participated in the BAJMT Summer festival performing Europa | Ariadne | Theseus – Three Short Operas by Darius Milhaud at the Theatre of Rheinsberg Palace in Brandenburg. In 2022 with the same ensemble they are presenting two exciting new productions - RESISTANZ where music (composed by Lutz Glandien) meets dance  (choregraphed by Jiří Bartovanec), and X3 – Iannis Xenakis zum 100. Geburtstag staged by Anisha Bondy.

He has gained orchestral experience with the Karajan academy orchestra of the Berliner Philharmoniker, Rundfunksinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB), Berliner Symphoniker, Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, Liepāja Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonietta Rīga, and has worked with such conductors as Matthias Pintscher, Vladimir Jurowski, Lahav Shani, Shao-Chia Lu, Peter Hirsch, Lior Shambadal, Andrew Manze, Alain Altinoglu, Markus Poschner, and Normunds Šnē among others.

In 2021 as assistent of the conductor Catherine Larsen-Maguire Juris Azers made his conducting at the Musikfest Berlin with the Ensemble Modern and the Neuer Kammerchor Berlin at the Philharmonie Berlin. 2022 he conducted the Jerusalem Symphonic Orchestra at the final concert of the Jerusalem International Conducting Academy in Israel. Since 2022 he is also a lecturer for percussion at the International Music Academy Anton Rubinstein in Berlin, Germany.

Currently, Juris Azers works as a freelance musician based in Berlin, Germany. He is an active soloist and has performed in South-Korea, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, China, Russia and Israel.