Aperane, Dace (1953)
Biography Works
Foto 1
The composer, organizer of
musical events, teacher, conductor, and music reviewer Dace Aperans
was born on December 19th, 1953 in Winnipeg, Canada to the family
of the well known community affairs organizer, Latvian youth song
festival initiator and organizer Mārtiņš Štauvers. At the age of 11
D. Aperans began learning piano, and at the age of 12 she began
composing (piano works and songs). D. Aperans began studying
composition at McGill University in Montreal in 1972 with professors
Charles Palmer, Bruce Mather, and Brian Cherney. In 1976, she
graduated from the university with honours, receiving her
bachelor’s degree. While studying, the budding composer founded the
Montreal Latvian youth choir and worked together with
the Montrealas koklētājas–dainotājas. In
1977/78 she attended theory and compositional classes at
the Mannes College of Music in New
York and at the Fontainebleau School of Music in Paris, where among
her teachers were Nadia Boulanger and Louise Talma. From 1978 to
1980, D. Aperāne studied composition at Hunter College in New York
and graduated with honours, receiving her master’s
degree.
The composer first gained notice in 1976, when her
work Illuminations for wind quintet
received first place at the Sixth Canadian Latvian Song Festival
New Composition Competition. In the following years, D. Aperans’
works were frequently performed in both American and in exile
Latvian chamber concerts, as well as song festivals. As of 1989,
her music is in the repertoire of many Latvian interpreters. There
have been a series of author concerts in Riga and other places in
Latvia. The majority of D. Aperans’ works are dominated by a bright
or melancholic gentle mood, frequently inspired by Latvian folk
songs. Critics have noted her music’s mildly dissonant character.
The subsiding outer flow of her large form compositions is often
replaced by a heated, intensified expressiveness; the composer
herself admits that the works of Pēteris Vasks have influenced
her.
D. Aperans is actively involved in the organization of music
events. She was the musical director of the Fourth (1982 –
Cleveland), Fifth (1985 – Montreal), and Sixth (1987 – Sherbrooke)
Latvian Youth Song Festivals. She conducted the combined choir at
the First Latvian Youth Song Festival in Montreal (1975), as well
as the Latvian Youth Orchestra at the Fourth Youth Song Festival in
Cleveland (1982), and the Fifth Latvian Youth Song Festival in
Montreal (1985). As of 1985, the composer has been the artistic
director of n i n e international Latvian young musician
camps-masterclasses in Canada and Latvia. In 2000, she became the
director of the World Federation of Free Latvians Music Division,
as of 2001, she is the director of the music division of the
Latvian Cultural Association TILTS. She
was the artistic director of the North American Latvian Organ Days
(1991, 1999 and 2005 in New York); as of the beginning of the 80s
she has organised concerts, including Latvian composers’ author
concerts in many notable New York concert halls – Carnegie Recital
Hall and others. A portrait of D. Aperans was included in the
documentary film of director Maruta Jurjāne
(1994). Latvian Television has shown performances of D. Aperans’
stage works (the performance of the play Tango
Lugano at the Dailes Theatre in 1989, a fragment of
the performance of the ballet Edīte
(Edith) at the Dailes Theatre in
1995).
D. Aperans is regularly involved in writings about music –
from the beginning of the 90s, she is a music critic for the
newspaper Laiks, and a wide array of her
articles about the works of Latvian composers and other themes have
been published in the magazine Jaunā
Gaita.
Since her youth, D. Aperans has been fond of teaching. While
studying in Montreal, she taught music to exile Latvian children in
the Catskills (New York, USA) and Sidrabene (Ontario, Canada), and
many 2x2 and 3x3 camps. While studying at Hunter College, D.
Aperans worked as a music teacher at the Long Island Latvian High
School and the Bronx Latvian High School in New York. Later she was
a teacher at the Bronx Latvian School (1978–2000), Hunter College
(1980–1981), and the Convent of the Sacred Heart School in New York
(1982–1984). At this time, D. Aperans teaches music at the OLSS
Elementary School in Connecticut, United States (as of 1999), and
at the Music Conservatory of Westchester in White Plains, New York
(as of 2002). She also works at the Bedford Presbyterian Church in
New York State, where she teaches and conducts the bell
choir.
D. Aperans has received a series of awards both for her
achievements in composition, as well as her work in cultural
affairs. She has been awarded the Prix de La
Societe Musique Canadienne(1975), the World Federation
of Free Latvians Krišjānis Barons award (for her
cantata Balsis [Voices]) and the World
Federation of Free Latvians Note of Recognition, and the General
Goppers Fund Award (1993), an award from the US
organization Opera Works for her
cycle Three Songs with Texts by Emily
Dickinson and the honorary WFFL diploma (1996), a
Note of Recognition from the New York Latvian Lutheran Church, the
Jānis Bieriņš Memorial Award (1999), and the Three Star Award of
Latvia (2001).
D. Aperans is a member of the Latvian Composers’ Union, the
American Music Center (1990), the Canadian Music Centre (1993),
SOCAN (Society of Composers, Authors and Music
Publishers of Canada) and a member of AKKA (the Latvian
Copyright and Communication Consultation Agency – 1995)
