Background
Jānis Kalniņš was the son of composer Alfrēds Kalniņš.
Jānis Kalniņš was the son of composer Alfrēds Kalniņš.
He was a student first of Jāzeps Vītols at the n Academy of Music, then with Erich Kleiber, Hermann Abendroth and Leo Blech. His two major operas were Hamlets (1936) and Uguni (1937). He was chief conductor of the n National Opera 1933-1944.
Kalniņš emigrated to in 1948, taking a position as an organist in Fredericton, where he worked until retirement in 1991.
Kalnins died in Fredericton in 2000.