Ilva Eigus

Biography

Swiss-Latvian violinist Ilva Eigus was born in 2007. She received her first violin lesson at the age of three from Liana Tretiakova and continued to study with her at the Zakhar Bron School of Music in Zurich until 2023. Her current mentor is Professor Marc Bouchkov, with whom Ilva studies at the Pre-College of the Royal Conservatory of Liège in Belgium. Ilva is also an honoured recipient of scholarships from the Verbier Festival Academy, the Seiji Ozawa Academy in Rolle and the Liechtenstein Academy of Music.

Ilva's exceptional talent was recognized early on and she has been taught by the renowned violin professor Zakhar Bron since the age of seven. She has gained further musical inspiration from Ingolf Turban, Priya Mitchell, Janine Jansen, Augustin Dumay, Sadao Harada, Marie Chilemme, Nobuko Imai, Michaela Martin, Alexandra Soumm, Claire Oppert and Maxim Vengerov.

Ilva made her orchestral debut at the age of eight with the Kabalevsky Violin Concerto. Since then, she has played as a soloist with Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Moscow Philharmonic, Novosibirsk Philharmonic, Prague Royal Philharmonic and SWD Philharmonie Konstanz, among others. Ilva was invited to perform in venues such as Tonhalle Zurich, Victoria Hall in Geneva, Mozarteum Salzburg, Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, the Bolshoi Theatre and the House of Music in Moscow, Château de Chillon in Montreux and Palazzo Vecchio in Florence and festivals such as the Verbier Festival, Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Trans- Siberian Art Festival, Festival de Musique de Menton, Septembre Musical in Montreux-Vevey, Enjoy Jazz Festival Mannheim, Zaubersee Festival Lucerne and Odessa Classsics. She is eager to explore contemporary music, having premiered works by Nik Bärtsch, Daniel Schnyder and Samy Moussa.

Ilva is a multiple first prize winner of the Swiss Youth Music Competition and winner of numerous awards at International competitions, including 1st prize at the International Nutcracker Competition (2020), Rotary Prize at the Verbier Festival (2023), Swiss Charity Award (2023) and 1st prize at the Arthur Grumiaux Violin Competition in Brussels (2024).

Ilva has been supported by the Fritz Gerber Foundation, the Ruth and Ernst Burkhalter Foundation, the Lyra Foundation, the Pierino Ambrosoli Foundation and the Kiwanis Club Zollikon. Ilva plays an Omobono Stradivari from 1707, on generous loan from the Stradivari Stiftung Habisreutinger-Huggler-Coray.

In 2023, Ilva became an ambassador for the Fondation ART-THERAPIE, which aims to promote art therapy programs for young people in Switzerland.

Ilva's playing is characterised by precise intonation, depth and artistic maturity. She is also very passionate about chamber music and performs regularly with pianist Alexandra Dovgan and cellist Maxime Grizard. In her free time she enjoys reading, photography and sports.