Pēteris Vasks

Pēteris Vasks was born on April 16th, 1946 in Aizpute to a Baptist minister’s family. He studied at the Emīls Dārziņš Music School. In 1970, he graduated from the Lithuanian State Conservatory in Vytautas Sereika’s contrabass class, in turn graduating the Latvian State Conservatory composition class in 1978 (Valentīns Utkins’s class). From 1963 to 1974, Pēteris Vasks played the contrabass in the Symphony Orchestra of the Latvian National Opera, the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, and the Latvian Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra. From 1978 to 1989, Pēteris Vasks worked as a teacher in the Salacgrīva, Zvejniekciems, and Jelgava Music Schools. As of 1989, the composer has been working in the Emīls Dārziņš Music School. Since the end of the 1980s, Pēteris Vasks has received composition