Andrejs Pommers

1904-1980
Conductor, public worker

Andrejs Pommers was born on 22 July 1904 in St. Petersburg in a Latvian family. At the age of seven, he began to study piano with the well-known organist Janis Turss (Jānis Turss). His father taught him Latvian folk songs, singing the second voice himself; those were songs which he had either learned in a choir or improvised by himself. Andrejs also practised this singing technique and, among his friends, was happy to sing as the second voice. He studied piano until the age of 14, and organ for the last two years of this period.

After the First World War and the establishment of the Latvian state, the family returned to Riga where Pommers continued his education at the Riga City Technical School and joined the school choir (later also the double quartet) led by conductor K. Pukis (K. Pūķis.) The conductor noticed his abilities and commissioned him to train voices for the 1922 Youth Song Festival. During his compulsory military service, he was asked to organise and direct a men's choir. When Leonids Vigners (Leonīds Vīgners) took over the leadership of men's choir "Dziedonis", Pommers also joined it with the task of training individual voices. He wrote in his notes about this time: "It was not easy to please the intolerant owner of a perfect pitch but I will remember with awe and gratitude the time I spent with him."

The real work of leading the choir, however, began when Pommers worked as an assistant conductor in Vigner’s men’s choir. Later, he was entrusted with the Aviation Regiment Men's Choir which he led until the regiment was dissolved. In the meantime, he conducted several smaller choirs and organised the male double quartet "Daugaviesi" in which he himself sang the second tenor voice. During this time, he made several radio appearances.

During the Second World War, he went into exile to Germany. There he founded and directed camp choirs in Lübeck and Neustadt, and also served as organist in the local congregation. As the Latvian camps emptied, he moved to England and settled in Bolton. In 1948, he organised the Bolton branch of the Latvian Society of Great Britain (LSGB) and its mixed choir and drama (theatre) group, while also serving as organist in the Manchester congregation. Pommers was invited by the men's choir "Dzintarzeme" to be its conductor, and he led the choir until its dissolution. Later, he also became the conductor of the Daugava Men Choir and taught young people to play the kokle (Latvian string instrument).