Gunars Upatnieks is Double Bass Professor at “Hanns Eisler” Superior School of Music in Berlin and, since 2011, Double Bassist of the renowned Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
Prize winner at numerous competitions, including the prestigious ARD Music Competition in Munich, International ISB Solo Competition and International Johann Matthias Sperger Competiton for Double Bass, he has thrilled audiences around the world with his solo double bass performances.
He studied double bass in Music Academies in Riga, Latvia and Brno, Czech Republic, where he studied with Miloslav Jelinek.
From 2005 to 2009, Gunars Upatnieks was Principal Double Bass at Latvian National Symphony Orchestra. During the 2010/2011 season, he was Assistant Principal Double Bass in Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra.
As well as the solo-repertoire of the classic and romantic period, such as the double bass concertos of Bottesini, Dittersdorf and Koussevitzky, Gunars interests also lie in works of contemporary composers as Peteris Vasks and Rolf Martinsson.
Gunars Upatnieks performances could be enjoyed in concerts, with great symphony orchestras, as well as in recitals. Lately he played with the Bavarian Radio Symphony, Nordic Symphony Orchestra, Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, Estonian Symphony Orchestra and Rheinische Staatsphilharmonie.
Gunars Upatnieks appears regularly in international music festivals and is often invited to give masterclasses around the world.