Piano Quintets

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Quintets


First name: Janis
Last name: Kalnins
Dates: 1904-2000
Category: Quintet
Nationality: Latvian
Opus name: Piano Quintet (1989)
Publisher: Canadian Music Centre
Peculiarities: http://www.musiccentre.ca/node/75363; http://www.lmic.lv/core.php?pageId=778&l=A&name=&afftor=&autors=&zanrs=233&Sastavs=&year=
Information: Janis Kalninš, composer and conductor, studied composition at the Latvian Conservatoire (1920–1924), and was conductor at the National Theatre (1923–1933) and the Latvian National Opera (1933–1944). In 1944 he arrived in Lübeck, Germany, as a refugee, and in 1949 went on to Canada. For 20 years he worked as lecturer in music at Fredericton Teachers College of Music in New Brunswick and as symphony orchestra conductor, later as organist and choir conductor. In 1981 Kalni?š was awarded an honorary doctorate by Mount Allison University in New Brunswick for his contribution to regional musical development. Janis Kalninš first gained prominence as a talented musical dramatist with his operas and ballets written in the 1930s(Opera: Lolita’s Wonderbird, 1934; Hamlet, 1936; In Fire, 1937; Ballet: Autumn (one act), 1938; Nightingale and Rose (one act), 1938). His output of chamber music and orchestral music, particularly after 1940, was considerable, and included 5 symphonies and several cantatas. He generally avoided Romanticism in developing his style, leaning more towards classical objectivity and unadorned structural simplicity.