Imant Raminsh’ 80th Birthday Celebration!

On Saturday, Sept 16, the Kelowna Chamber Musicians presented an 80th Birthday Celebration Concert to honour composer Imant Raminsh at Kamloops United Church, cake and all! The performance featured his 1st String Quartet and a new Clarinet Quintet performed by the Sycamore String Quartet with the outstanding clarinetist Sally Arai.

 

I will never forget the first time I heard the music of Imant Raminsh. It was August 10, 2008, not long after I moved back to Vancouver after 20 years living in New York City. That evening, the Borealis String Quartet performed Imant’s Second String Quartet, and it completely mesmerized me. So much, In fact, that 10 years later, I presented all three of his quartets in a concert celebrating Imant’s 75 birthday in 2018 in the Canadian Music Centre’s Murray Adaskin Salon in Vancouver.

 

There is a luminous and inspirational quality to Imant’s music. It is profound — there is no other word to describe it. His music touches something lasting and deep and real inside all of us.

 

 

 

A true Renaissance man — Composer, conductor, violinist, and teacher — he founded the Prince George Symphony, the Okanagan Symphony Youth Orchestra and several choirs. Best known for his choral works, which are widely celebrated and performed, he is also a superlative instrumental and orchestral composer.

 

His Violin Concerto was premiered by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in 1977, and his Bassoon Concerto by the Mexico State Orchestra in 2000. Other works bridging the two worlds include his Symphony of Psalms for choir and orchestra sung in eight languages. Overall, his compositions have been performed in New York’s Carnegie Hall, Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, Westminster Abbey in London, and Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

 

Imant Raminsh arrived in Canada as a child needing refuge during World War II, and we were so lucky to get him. Recognizing his lifetime of contributing to the cultural life of this country and the world, he was inducted into the order of Canada in 2018 and the Order of the Three Stars from Latvia in 2006.

 

I greatly appreciated the opportunity for the Canadian Music Centre in BC to sponsor that concert. And it was an honour for me to be there and say a few words to help celebrate the life and music of this extraordinary composer.