St. Michael’s Church
YOUNG TALENTS ON VALENTINE’S DAY
14th of February at 3 p.m.
Valle-Rasmus Roots (cello) and Tähe-Lee Liiv (piano)
Programme: Faure, Grieg etc.
Free entry!
Valle-Rasmus Roots began his cello studies in 2001 in the cello class of Mart Laas at Tallinn Music High School, graduating in 2013 in the class of M. Laas and Prof. Henry-David Varema. In 2017 he graduated cum laude from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre with a bachelor’s degree in cello with Prof. Varema. He is currently pursuing his Master’s studies at the same institution. During his bachelor studies at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, he has been taught by Prof. Varema and Prof. Marko Ylönen. In the academic year 2015/2016, V.-R. Roots studied at the cello class of Prof. Wolfgang Boettcher at the Universität der Künste in Berlin within the framework of the ERASMUS+ student exchange programme. In the academic year 2017/2018 he studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki in the cello class of Prof. Marko Ylönen. V.-R. Roots has been a successful participant in several competitions. His most recent achievement is the 1st prize at the Baltic String Players Competition in December 2018 in Vilnius, Lithuania. He is the laureate of the Estonian Young String Players Competition-Festival (2011 and 2013). Together with pianist Auli Lonks, he won the prize at the chamber music competition In Corpore in 2015. He is the winner of the Yamaha scholarship competition (2016).
He has also performed as a soloist with the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, TMKK Symphony Orchestra, Baden-Baden Philharmonic Orchestra, EMTA Symphony Orchestra and Pärnu City Orchestra. V.-R. Roots has taken part in several courses and masterclasses with outstanding cellists (e.g. D. Geringas, W. Boettcher, N. Jones, M. Ylonen, F. Gouton). He plays the C. Farotti cello (owned by Mrs. Maivi Kaljuvee), which was given to him by the Estonian Pillifond.
Tähe-Lee Liiv started her piano studies in Tallinn Music High School (teacher: M. Pakri) and continued her studies there since 2013, teacher. M. Gerretz-Traksmann’s piano class and in 2019 also in Prof. I. Ilya’s class. With the latter, he continues his studies at the EMTA Youth Department and since the academic year 2017 he has been studying in Italy (with K. Bogino). In 2018, T.-L. Liiv started his piano studies in Helsinki, at the Youth Department of the Sibelius Academy (teacher: H.-Y. Tawaststjerna). He has performed as a soloist with the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Pärnu City Orchestra, the orchestra of the “Young Musician” competition, the Chioggia Chamber Orchestra in the province of Venice, Italy, the Alion Baltic Festival Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Sergei Stadler) and the Virumaa Chamber Orchestra (conducted by Toivo Peäske, 2018). The same concert was performed by T.-L. Liiv at Merkin Hall, Lincoln Center, New York, with the New York Camerata Orchestra (dir Richard Owen). In 2021, T.-L. Liiv performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 27 with the EMTA Symphony Orchestra (dir V.-R. Roots). T.-L. Liiv has performed with the ERSO in Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1. During the 2021-2022 season he will perform with the Kratt Festival Orchestra (conductor Olari Elts), the Helsinki NMKY Symphony Orchestra (conductor Tapio von Boehm), the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, the ERSO and the Vanemuine Symphony Orchestra. T.-L. Liiv is also an active chamber musician, performing with many different ensembles. Since 2020 he has been playing with Trio Meri, Triinu Piirsalu (violin) and Simon Svoboda (cello). He has repeatedly taken part in the piano course of Prof. Arbo Valdmaa in Pärnu and has studied with H. Dalkilic, N. Sucharevich, I. Zahharenkova, V. Sveti and Simon Mova. Ovchinnikov, D. Bashkirov, V. Ogarkov, J. Margulise, C. Jurise, M. Bulycher-Okseri, A. J. Juurikase, M. Mikalai, M. Polli, V. Rosenbaum, O. Kerni, R. Goode, M. Silvermani, P. Paleczny, P. Nersessiani, G. Scotti, L. O. Andsnes and D. Alexeev, P. Lassmann and A. P. L. Lassmann, P. Lassmann, P. Schiff.
