Imant Raminsh
Born in Latvia, Imant Raminsh came to Canada in 1948. After completing his ARCT diploma in violin at the Royal Conservatory of Toronto and a Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Toronto, he spent two years at the "Akadernie Mozarteum" in Salzburg, Austria, studying composition, fugue violin and conducting, while also playing in the professional Carnerata Academica Orchestra.
Imant is the founding conductor of the Prince George Symphony, the Youth Symphony of the Okanagan, NOVA Children's Choir and AURA Chamber Choir. His compositions have been performed on six continents by such ensembles as the Vancouver, Edmonton, Hamilton, Toronto, Okanagan, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick Symphonies; the Vancouver Chamber Choir; the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir; the Stockholm Chamber Choir; and many others. His music has been heard in Carnegie Hall (New York), Tchaikovsky Hall (Moscow), the Orpheum (Vancouver), Canterbury Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Notre Dame de Paris and Santa Marie del Flore. Imant had his conducting debut at Carnegie Hall in March 2006, performing his Magnificat and Missa Brevis with a mass choir and orchestra.
In October 2006, lmant was presented with the "Distinguished Visiting Aiurnnus Medal” by Dean Averil Gage of the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto. In the summer of 2008, he was invited to conduct a mass choir of 12,000 voices at the 24th Latvian Song Festival in a performance of his "Put, Vejini." lmant received the Okanagan Arts Award in the music category in 2011.
