For the legendary choir conductors Imants Kokars and Gido Kokars - 100! Publicēts: 17.08.2021
For the legendary choir conductors Imants Kokars and Gido Kokars - 100!
The outstanding twin brothers were born on different dates - Imants on the night of August 16, 1921, while Gido was already after midnight on August 17. The brothers were born in the then Vecgulbene parish.
They studied at the teachers' institutes in Cēsis, Jelgava and Rēzekne, learning the professions of teachers, but they were still called music - they founded and led choirs, they were the chief conductors of the Song Festival. Imants - initiator and artistic director of the international chamber choir festival “Riga dimd”, founder and chief conductor of the Baltic and Nordic Song Festival movement, initiator and leader of the project for publishing an anthology of Latvian choral songs. Both are professors at the Latvian Academy of Music, Imants is also the rector. The choirs “Dziedonis” and “Beverīna” are always associated with the name of Imants, Imants is the founder of “Ave sol” with Gido - “Daina” and “Daile”, but both names are associated with this choir.
The environment, the people around, the education system that existed at the time, and the conditions that have happened successfully - the combination of the musical talents and character traits of the brothers allowed to continue the Latvian choral singing traditions more than a hundred years old, developing them at an incredibly high level.
“In principle, their activity was a special turning point in the history of the development of Latvian choral music in the period after the Second World War. A fundamentally different attitude towards the song, towards the performance. It was no longer such strict academism. They brought so many new colors, choir music and choir concerts became popular. ” / Jānis Rijnieks, composer, conductor /
Memory stories about Imanta and Gido can be read and listened to in the project “Children of Happiness. Kokariem - 100. ” in the exhibition, which will soon be on display at the Gulbene County Library. The project has received support in the cultural project competition “Vidzeme Culture Program 2021 supported by the State Forest and State Cultural Capital Fund” announced by the Vidzeme Planning Region.
Photo: from the Kokari brothers' exposition in Ozolkalns.