Latvian violist Janeks Niklavičs studied at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music in Riga, at the Trossingen University of Music with James Creitz, and at the Berlin University of the Arts with Ulrich Knörzer. Since September 2024, he has been a member of the viola section of the Dresden Philharmonic.
In addition, he regularly performs with renowned orchestras including the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. Further engagements have taken him to ensembles such as the Arctic Philharmonic, the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, as well as numerous other orchestras.
Chamber music is a particular focus of his artistic work. As a member of the Vox String Quartet, he received awards at the Alice Samter Chamber Music Competition and the International Anton Rubinstein Competition. One of his chamber music highlights was a performance of Johannes Brahms’s String Sextet in G major at the 2017 Zermatt Festival alongside Isabelle Faust, Christophe Horak, Misha Afkham, Claudio Bohórquez and Richard Duven.
He has also gained important artistic experience at the Moritzburg Festival Academy, the Zermatt Festival Academy and with the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra.