Baiba Skride: Life Lessons

My first teacher, Ludmila Girska, was an amazingly constructive person. She was strict, but in a calm way – I always knew exactly what she wanted from me. A large part of my development, from the ages of 5 to 14, was spent under her tuition, so she also became an important part of my life generally. I talked with her a lot and she never treated me like a child. Instead I was encouraged to reveal my own personality, in both my playing and my life. A certain rigour has always been part of my relationship with music, not least because of my parents. My father, a violinist turned choir conductor, and my mother, a pianist, taught me never to be satisfied with my performance, and always to work harder. Thankfully, this attitude was balanced out by my later teacher, Petru Munteanu, who stressed the importance of accepting when I played well!