Kurme-Gedroica, Dzintra (1968)
Biography Works
Foto 1
Dzintra Kurme-Gedroica (born
Kurme, married name Gedroica) was born on the 6th of November, 1968
in Riga. Her love for music came from her family: her father’s
father Ādams Kurmis was a musician who played in the countryside.
He was a player and manufacturer of folk instruments, and he passed
on his playing skill to his son, the composer’s future father
Zigmunds Kurmis. Her mother, Lidija Kurme (born Vanaga), who in her
youth was a well-known singer and a participant in the Melngailis
Choir, also aided her appreciation of music. Dz. Kurme-Gedroica
studied in the Jāzeps Mediņš Music School piano class with Velta
Lūkina. From 1981 to 1984, she also studied composition with Maija
Einfelde as an elective. From 1984 to 1988 she studied in the
theory department at the Jāzeps Mediņš College of Music, where she
learned composition with Tamāra Kalna. In 1988, she entered the
Latvian State Conservatory, studying composition with Ādolfs
Skulte, and graduated in 1992. She also worked as a teacher at the
Jāzeps Mediņš College of Music from 1991 to 1992. Since 1992, Dz.
Kurme-Gedroica has been working in the sheet music department at
the Latvian Academy of Music’s library, and since 1998 has been the
director of this division.
The composer’s characteristically enriched and expressive
harmonic colors and broad use of ostinato principles often leave
the impression of magic incantation. Her music has been included in
the repertoire of many interpreters of the new generation. An
especially popular selection is the organ work Uguns vēsts (The
Fire Message), which has been performed by Aija Ziņģīte, Ligita
Sneibe, and Aigars Reinis. Her Variations for Piano has been played
by Juris Žvikovs, compositions for clarinet have been played by
Guntars Gedroics, and solo songs sung by Māra Krauja-Reine and
Antra Bigača.
