Composers > Leons Amoliņš

Leons Amoliņš

"Unlike a painting, you cannot take a work of music in your hands, touch it, buy it and hang it on a wall. A work of music lives only in performance, we are involved with the performer, with recordings. We have to explain this to others, even though to us it is already understandable."

Leons Amoliņš


BIOGRAPHY

Leons Amoliņš was born on April 19th, 1937, in Riga. His parents were not professional musicians – but were musical – his father played in a wind orchestra, his mother sang in a choir. He studied at the Jelgava College of Music in the choir conducting and wind instrument (trumpet) departments (1955–1958), and the Latvian State Conservatory Performance Department in the choir conducting division with Andrejs Krūmiņš (1958–1963), symphony and opera orchestra conducting with Vassily Sinaisky (1976–1981) and in the composition department with Pauls Dambis (1981–1985). He furthered his knowledge in master classes in opera performance and theatre production with Jurij Temirkanov in St. Petersburg.

As of 1996, he has been working at the Latvian Academy of Music, teaching choir and orchestra conducting. He worked at the Latvian National Opera (1981–1992, conductor, 1986–1990, chief conductor), the State Academic Choir Latvija (1975–1981, conductor), the Latvian Radio Choir (1965–1975, conductor), he was the Ogre Children’s School of Music director (1963–1965), the people’s choirs Delta and Gaudeamus, the Jumprava Culture House and Sigulda Culture House teachers’ choir conductor. As of 1964, Leons Amoliņš is the chief conductor of the Region of Ogre Choir, and currently leads the Ogre Teachers’ Choir and the Ogre Teachers’ Chamber Choir, as well as the Jāzeps Mediņš College of Music Symphony Orchestra. He was a deputy in the Riga Council (1997–2001). He was the lead conductor of the Song Festival Symphony Orchestra in 1998 and 1990. As a conductor, he has spent a significant amount of time or has performed in individual concerts with almost all Latvian professional music ensembles. Leons Amoliņš is a member of the Latvian Composers’ Union (as of 1987), chairman of the board (1996–2004). He works with the Riga Latvian Society Music Commission, and the Augusts Dombrovskis Public Fund Board. He was elected as deputy to the Riga Council as a member of the Tēvzemei un brīvībai/LNNK party, and as of 2002, he is a member of the Pirmā Party.

He has composed approximately 150 compositions in many different genres, mainly vocal music and chamber music. Many Leons Amoliņš author concerts have been held in Riga and other Latvian cities, where he has also participated as a conductor – a performer of his own works. While at the opera, he performed ten operas and nine ballets, and conducted approximately 500 performances. As a conductor, he has performed with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, the St. Petersburgh, Tomsk, Omsk, Novsibirsk, Lvov, and Liepāja Symphony Orchestra. He has given concerts in Latvia, Germany, France, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland.


LITERATURE

Latviešu komponisti un muzikologi (Latvian Composers and Musicologists). – Riga: LKS, 1989 • L. Jakovļeva, Starp mūziku, amatiem, rūpēm un priekiem (Between Music, Appointments, Concerns, and Happiness) [interview regarding the composer’s 60th birthday] // Dziesmusvētki, 1997, no. 5, 10–11 • L. Ašme, Komponistu savienība. Inventarizācijas mēģinājums (The Composers’ Union. An Attempt to Inventory) [interview] // LML, July 15th, 1999 • L. Ašme, Leona Amoliņa mūzikā ieklausoties (Listening to the Music of Leons Amoliņš) [a review of the author concert at the Riga Latvian Society] // Brīvā Latvija (London), November 25th/December 1st, 2000


Ligita Ašme, supplemented by Mārīte Dombrovska
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