Andris Vecumnieks is a composer, conductor, lecturer and teacher. He is head of the JVLMA symphony orchestra class and JVLMA associated professor (since 2005). Vecumnieks is the artistic director of the Chamber Orchestra Sinfonia concertante and conductor of the symphony orchestra of the Emīls Dārziņš Music School. Vecumnieks has taught theory at the Emīls Dārziņš Music School, and he has held the positions of its assistant principal and head of its Music Theory Department. From 2002 to 2008, Vecumnieks was dean and prorector at JVLMA. A regular conductor of the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra, he has also performed in Berlin, Rostock, Muenster, Tashkent and Novosibirsk and given international masterclasses.

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Andris Vecumnieks studied composition with Ģederts Ramans both at the Emīls Dārziņš Music School and at JVLMA, from where he received his bachelor’s degree. Vecumnieks got his master’s degree in composition from the Pēteris Plakidis class (1992). After that, he continued his education at the Stockholm Royal Music School with Sven David Sandström. In 2001, he received the diploma of a symphony orchestra conductor from the class of Viesturs Gailis. Vecumnieks has participated in several international composition competitions; has been a laureate of choral and chamber music competitions and recipient of a diploma at the Sergei Prokofiev 4th International Conducting Competition in St Petersburg (2003).