BIOGRAPHY

Chief Conductor of the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra
Artistic Advisor of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra

Andris Poga is the Chief Conductor of the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. He was the Music Director of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra from 2013 till 2021 and continues to collaborate with the LNSO as its Artistic Advisor.

Highlights of recent years have included concerts with the leading orchestras of Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Scandinavia. After the first successful collaborations he has become a regular guest at the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester Hamburg, WDR Sinfonieorchester Cologne, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo and many others. He has also conducted the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Gewandhausorchester, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony, Dallas Symphony.

The season of 2025/26 includes the subscription concert series with both the SSO and LNSO, returns to the WDR Sinfonieorchester including the tour to South Korea, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg among others. Andris will make his debuts with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Belgian National Orchestra, Prague Radio Symphony and other notable orchestras.

In 2010, Andris Poga was the First Prize winner of the Evgeny Svetlanov International Conducting Competition, which thrust him into the international scene. He became an assistant to Paavo Järvi at the Orchestre de Paris and he also served as the assistant conductor for the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Andris has graduated the conducting department of the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music. He studied philosophy at the University of Latvia and conducting at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts.

PRESS QUOTES

“Andris Poga displayed a natural, overwhelming presence, imposing himself immediately in front of the orchestra, with an outstanding technique and a fantastic arm. (…) He bore with tire-less energy the wide ark and complexity of this extraordinarily intricate work.”
Christian Merlin – Le Figaro, about Shostakovich’s 7th Symphony

« Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony rang out. Outstandingly conducted by Andris Poga, it became a fiery quest in which terror and exaltation underpinned the relentless march of destiny”.
Jean-Felix Marquette Utmisol