Atis Stepiņš

(19 May 1958 – 20 October 2013)

“Improvisation and composition are deeply interconnected. I am a church organist, and I believe there is no better place to learn how to sing on an instrument than by making music together with the congregation — showing both initiative and sensitivity at the same time. It is a matter of attitude that allows one to perceive creation in liturgical improvisation. Give a player a cantus firmus exercise, ask them to play it using different rhythmic formulas, both tonally and by disrupting the tonal foundation, and you will set the performer free. I think that this kind of improvisation has not yet been given the place it deserves.”

— Atis Stepiņš

The composer’s artistic outlook was shaped to a considerable extent by piano playing, in which Atis Stepiņš received his initial professional training. A rich palette of timbres and the singing quality of the instrument — aspects of the pianistic sphere — were often combined in Stepiņš’s work with improvisation. Organ improvisation became particularly important, forming an engaging and distinctive part of his concert performances.

Atis Stepiņš was born in Liepāja on 19 May 1958. His sister is the cellist Agne Stepiņa. Between 1977 and 1987, he obtained professional qualifications in several musical disciplines at the Latvian State Conservatory (LVK): piano under Konstantīns Blūmentāls, organ under Pēteris Sīpolnieks (both in 1982), and composition under Ādolfs Skulte (1987).

From 1989, Stepiņš taught piano and organ improvisation at the Latvian State Conservatory, later the Latvian Academy of Music (LVK/LMA). From 1990, he also served as organist at St Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Riga.

Atis Stepiņš’s career as a performing organist included a number of significant engagements. He furthered his studies in the interpretation of the music of J. S. Bach, contemporary music, and organ improvisation with several distinguished organists: Piet Kee and Jan Raas of the Netherlands, Zsigmond Szathmáry of Hungary, Hans Haselböck of Austria, and the Swedish musician Anders Bondeman.

He participated in the Haarlem International Organ Academy in the Netherlands in 1990 and 1992 and took part in several international organ competitions. In 1990, he received a diploma at the competition in Speyer, Germany, and in 1991 he became a laureate of the Vincenzo Petrali International Organ Competition in Ragusa, Sicily, Italy.

In 1993, Atis Stepiņš gave the inaugural performance on the new organ of the Berlin University of the Arts (now the Berlin University of the Arts). In 1997, he performed at the organ inauguration festival in Kazan, where he also served on the jury of an international organ competition.

In autumn 2002, he participated in Latvian Organ Music Week in Ottawa, Canada, where he performed part of the programme together with saxophonist Artis Gāga.