"[1] Ķeniņš was born in Latvia to parents who held prominent positions in Latvian cultural and political life.
[4] His father, Atis Ķeniņš, was a lawyer, educator, diplomat, poet, translator, and politician who served as a government official and his mother, Anna, was a journalist and writer.
[4] He then studied at the Paris Conservatory under Tony Aubin, Olivier Messiaen and others from 1945 to 1951, and won first prize there for his Cello Sonata.
[4] Around 1951, Kenins' Septet was performed at the Darmstadt New Music Festival, conducted by Hermann Scherchen; that same year, he moved to Canada and was named organist at the Latvian Lutheran St. Andrews Church in Toronto.
[6] In the late 1940s and 1950s, Ķeniņš' artistry evolved, seeking to "reconcile the romanticism of his nature and the neoclassicism of a French training.