Composers and Authors /

Vecumnieks, Andris (1964)

(Photo: Jānis Porietis)

Andris Vecumnieks was born on June 7th, 1964, in Riga. He is a graduate of the Emīls Dārziņš Special Music Secondary School (EDMV, 1982) and the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music (JVLMA), where he studied composition under Ģederts Ramans (1987) and Professor Pēteris Plakidis (1992, Master’s degree), as well as Orchestral Conducting under Professor Viesturs Gailis (2001). His education was expanded with Master’s studies at the Stockholm Royal College of Music under Sven-David Sandström (1993). In 2015, he was awarded a PhD (Dr. art.) in Theory of Culture from the Latvian Academy of Culture.

He has taken part in many international composition and conducting competitions, and has been named a laureate of Latvian choral and chamber music competitions. In 2003, he was an award winner at the 4th Sergei Prokofiev International Conducting Competition in St. Petersburg.

Vecumnieks has worked at the Emīls Dārziņš Music School as a teacher of music theory, Head of the Department of Music Theory, and Deputy Head of Teaching (1991-1999); at JVLMA as Dean and Pro-Rector of Academic Affairs (1999-2008); and as Head of the JVLMA Symphony Orchestra and Head of Orchestral Studies (2004-2018). Since 2017, he has been a JVLMA professor, having developed and led special study courses in the Departments of Composition, Orchestral Conducting and Musicology. He has been a Guest Professor at the Latvian Academy of Culture since 2011, and Daugavpils University since 2015, as well as a teacher at the Pāvuls Jurjāns Music School. Since 2012, he has worked regularly and independently with the Emīls Dārziņš Music School Symphony Orchestra.

More than 10 of Vecumnieks’ writings have been published in scholarly collections and publications, including the book Jura Karlsona teātra telpa (Teatralitātes fenomens mūzikā; 2015, pub. GlobeEdit, Saarbruecken).

Vecumnieks is the Artistic Director of the chamber orchestra Sinfonia Concertante, and he collaborates regularly with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra and the RIGA Professional Symphonic Band. As a conductor, he has given more than 400 concerts in Latvia and overseas, including Russia, Belarus, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Lithuania, Germany, Luxembourg, Estonia, Sweden and others, in collaboration with professional and student orchestras from these countries. He was the Artistic Director for the symphony orchestras of the international youth symphony orchestra projects Internationale Sommerakademie Collegium Musicum Schloss Weissenstein in Pommersfelden (2014–2018) and Baltic Young Musicians in an International Context (BYMIC, 2015).

Since 1988, Vecumnieks has been a member of the Latvian Composers’ Union (LKS), and he served as a LKS Board Member (2009-2017) and Chairman of the Board (2015-2017).