The mellifluous violin of Baiba Skride

Just how hard is it to make Mozart’s splendid music sound like, well, Mozart?

“It’s always a challenge to bring forward, in the best way possible, the simple beauty of Mozart and make it work,” says violinist Baiba Skride. “His music is something people usually know quite well, but it is that simplicity that makes it difficult to perform beautifully.”

Skride, 34, finds this particularly true of Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major, one of the composer’s most exquisite and popular compositions. The Latvia-born soloist performs the piece in her Seattle Symphony Orchestra debut on Thursday through Saturday (Jan. 21-23).

Joining Skride and the orchestra is another Baltic-region artist, conductor Olari Elts, a 44-year-old native of Estonia and former principal conductor of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra.

Besides the concerto, Elts will also lead the Seattle Symphony in selections from Mozart’s ballet music from “Idomeneo” and a pair of Haydn works: “March for the Royal Society of Musicians” and Symphony No. 104 in D major (“London”).

Given their shared, regional history, it’s not surprising Elts and Skride have frequently worked together.

“Quite a bit,” says Skride. “We have several connections where I grew up, and we’ve collaborated many times.”

Mozart wrote the Violin Concerto No. 3 in 1775 while working as a court musician in Salzburg. He was 19 and spent much of the year focused on writing five violin concertos of increasing sophistication — the only such orchestral pieces for that instrument he ever composed.

Music scholars have often noted that No. 3 has a quality of whole-cloth inspiration, as if its three movements dropped from the sky, intact. Listening to the piece, it’s hard to argue with that assessment, or with its seemingly bottomless well of glorious melodies and ethereal strains.

“It’s a gem,” Skride says. “When I play it, I find myself transported, though I’m aware of everything around me. It really is like being in another world.”

Born and raised in Riga, Latvia’s capital, Skride’s earliest years coincided with tumultuous times there. It wouldn’t be until 1991, after years of often-brutal occupation by the Soviet Union, before Latvia finally shook off Moscow and restored its full independence.

Skride’s memories of Russia’s impact on her life, however, are musical.

“There was a great influence during Soviet times. We had all these great artists come to Riga from Moscow, from other parts of Russia, so there’s been this great benefit from the eastern part of the musical world.”

Born into a musical family, Skride says she “didn’t have much choice” but to pick up an instrument.

“I’m very happy about it,” she says. “We Latvians are a very musical people. Singing is a big part of our culture. If there is something festive going on, there will be singing, so from the earliest age I did that. I was 4 when I started the violin. We have a special school system in Latvia for talented kids who want to become musicians, so that’s what I did.”

At 14, Skride transferred her studies to the Conservatory of Music and Theater in Rostock, Germany. In 2001, she won Queen Elisabeth Competition for violin, opening up her now-soaring career.

This season finds her touring Finland, Mexico, New Zealand and beyond. She’s also making time for another passion: playing chamber music in concert with her sister, Lauma Skride, a pianist.

Given that she was barely older than a toddler when she began playing violin in public, when did Skride first consider herself a pro?

“I’ve always been onstage,” she says. “So in a way I’ve been professional of my life.”