Early Life
Born on November 1, 1962, in Portland, Oregon, Ritmanis is the daughter of Dr. Andris Ritmanis and Asja Ritmanis, who left Latvia during World War II and immigrated to the US in 1949. Ritmanis has a sister, Brigita Ritmanis-Jameson, and a brother, Alberts Ritmanis.
Throughout her childhood Ritmanis studied piano, flute, guitar and voice, performing in both jazz and classical music ensembles. Ritmanis composed her first song at age 11. By age 16 she had toured the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, composing for and performing with the Latvian popular music group Dzintars (Amber). Latvian song festivals throughout the world provided Ritmanis with the opportunity to conduct and perform her works before larger audiences.
Ritmanis graduated from Cleveland High School in Portland, Oregon in 1980. She moved to Los Angeles to study at the Dick Grove School Of Music, where she graduated from both the Composition Program and the Film Music Composition Program, studying with composers Dick Grove, Mundell Lowe, Lalo Schifrin, Henry Mancini, Allyn Ferguson, and Jack Feirman, among others. Ritmanis also studied privately with teachers Mauro Bruno, Gibner King, and Matt Dennis.
Read more about this topic: Lolita Ritmanis
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or life:
“We early arrive at the great discovery that there is one mind common to all individual men: that what is individual is less than what is universal ... that error, vice and disease have their seat in the superficial or individual nature.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)
“The truth is, I do indulge myself a little the more in pleasure, knowing that this is the proper age of my life to do it; and, out of my observation that most men that do thrive in the world do forget to take pleasure during the time that they are getting their estate, but reserve that till they have got one, and then it is too late for them to enjoy it.”
—Samuel Pepys (16331703)