Contestant

Kristaps Vanadziņš

Latvia

Bio

Kristaps Vanadzins was born in Riga, Latvia on October 24, 1986. He was born in musical family, his father was blues guitarist, but grandfather was great organ player. Starting on piano at the age of 10, he really burst into composition and improvisation. First time when he heard pianists Ahmad Jamal and Oscar Peterson on the radio, he started exploring jazz. Around the age of 16 he started playing gigs at clubs with varios musicians receiving valuable on-the-bandstand experience. With varios bands he has been on tours at Baltic States, Sweden, Ukraine, Russia and Shrilanka.