Draft:Janis Kepitis

Jānis Ķepītis  )(2 January 1908 - 9 August 1989) was a Latvian composer, pianist, music teacher, and Latvian State Conservatory professor.

Life and career
Ķepītis was born on January 2, 1908 in the manor "Jaunais krogs" of Trikāta parish in Valka district, Livonia province of the Russian empire. He was the youngest son in the family of a teacher Mārcis Ķepītis and his wife Emma. When Jānis was four years old, the family moved to Valmiera, where his father worked as an accountant and his mother as a seamstress.

The boy studied at a parish school in Valmiera, and then at Valmiera gymnasium simultaneously learning the piano at Valmiera music school. After finishing school in 1926, Ķepītis continued his studies at the Latvian State Conservatory where he took three courses: the theory of composition with Jāzeps Vītols (1931), piano playing with Pauls Šūberts (1932) and symphony orchestra conducting with Jānis Mediņš (1934).

In 1933 he married Sallija Bērziņa and started a family. They had two children, Ināra (1936) and Andris Jānis (1940).

From 1932 to 1944 Ķepītis together with two other graduates of the Conservatory of Latvia – violinist Voldemārs Ruševics and violoncellist Atis Teichmanis – played in a chamber ensemble, entitled the Trio of Professor Vītols (1863 – 1948). In 1935 the Trio went to study music in Paris. After returning to Latvia in October 1936 Ķepītis was intensely engaged in the field of pianism. From 1934 to 1951 Ķepītis worked also as a concertmaster at the Latvian Radio.

In 1944 he married the singer Elvīra Volšteine (1912–1990). Three sons, Andulis (1945), Egils (1948–2001), and Uldis (1953) were born in their family.

From 1944 Ķepītis worked as a teacher at Latvian State Conservatory. In 1959 he started heading the Department of Chamber Ensemble at the Conservatory and later in 1979 became a professor. Five years later Ķepītis left the Latvian State Conservatory.

Ķepītis died on August 9, 1989 and was buried in the Baltezera cemetery not far from Rīga.

Awards
1958 Meritorious Artist of the Latvian SSR

Works
Kepitis wrote 6 symphonies, 2 operas, 2 ballets, 3 violin concertos, 7 chamber music trio musical works, cantatas, musical works for wind and string instruments, songs for children, arrangements of folk songs, and 5 Latvian folk dances accompanied by a symphony orchestra.