Imant Raminsh, Wilma and Clifford Smith Visitor In Music, reflects upon a lifetime of music-making as a composer, conductor, violinist and music educator. His many and varied lifetime's experiences have led him to explore places both geographic and of the mind. He offers some insights into the origins of works such as his Ave, Verum Corpus, The Great Sea, his violin concerto, and his arrangement of the Latvian folk song,"Put, Vejini."
Walter Hall, 80 Queen’s Park
Free and open to the public
Biography:
Born in 1943 in Ventspils, Latvia, Imant Raminsh arrived in Canada with his family in 1948. He pursued musical studies at the Royal Conservatory of Music, the University of Toronto, the Akademie “Mozarteum” in Salzburg, Austria, and the University of British Columbia. Raminsh has written in most musical genres including solo voice, chamber music, choral, symphonic, concerto and opera. His works have been performed on six continents in such renowned halls as Carnegie Hall and the Forbidden City. Raminsh has received numerous awards including the Outstanding Choral Composition Award from the Association of Canadian Choral Communities, and in 2007 he was made an Officer in the Order of the Three Stars of the Republic of Latvia. He is the founding conductor of the Prince George Symphony, the Youth Symphony of the Okanagan, NOVA Children’s Choir and AURA Chamber Choir.