OPENING CONCERT. GRANDE
Saturday, August 22 at 19:00 House of the Blackheads
Pikk 26, Tallinn
Anna-Liisa Bezrodny (violin), Maano Männi (violin), Andres Kaljuste (viola),
Valle-Rasmus Roots (cello), Vladimir Reshetko (cello), Pontus Grans (double bass)
Toomas Vavilov (clarinet), Peeter Sarapuu (bassoon)
Kreete Perandi (horn), Sten Lassmann (piano)
Programme:
Tõnis Kaumann (*1971)
„Ja kõrv ei puhka“ op 55 / „And the Ear does not Rest“
Duo for Violin & Double bass
I Part I
II Part II
III Coda
Edvard Grieg (1843–1907)
Tšellosonaat a-moll op 36 / Cello Sonata in A minor
I Allegro agitato
II Andante molto tranquillo
III Allegro molto e marcato
Franz Berwald (1796–1868)
„Grand septett“ B-duur / „Grand Septet“ in B-flat major
I Adagio – Allegro molto
II Poco adagio
III Finale: Allegro con spirito
ANNA-LIISA BEZRODNY is a bright artist born into a distinguished family of musicians, currently in great demand as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician all over the world. She began her violin studies at the age of two under Ivi Tivik and continued under the guidance of her parents at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. A.-L. Bezrodny has obtained a Master’s degree at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki as well as at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. She is a laureate of several international competitions including the Guildhall Competition (London) as the Gold Medal winner (2006), previously won by such well-known musicians as Bryn Terfel and Jaqueline du Pre. She has been awarded with the Cultural Endowment Annual Award (2013), in Finland with the prize “Pro Musica” and the London Symphony Orchestra PROMIS Award (2007). A.-L. Bezrodny has appeared a soloist with almost every Finnish and Estonian orchestras as well as Philharmonia Orchestra, London; Moscow TV Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London; Latvian National Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra; Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk Orkester, Leipzig; St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra; Gewandhaus Orkester, Leipzig; Chile Symphony Orchestra etc. She has worked with outstanding conductors including Leif Segerstam, Eri Klas, sir Colin Davis, Nikolay Alekseyev, Sian Edwards, Paavo Järvi, Neeme Järvi, Kristjan Järvi, Leonid Grin, Alan Burimbajev, Okko Kamu etc. A.-L. Bezrodny is an active chamber musician performing at several international festivals all over the world each year. Her partners have included Jan-Erik Gustafsson, Maxim Vengerov, Barnabas Kelemen, Ivry Gitlis, Ida Händel, Alexander Rudin, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Liana Isakadze, Lisa Batiashvili, Vikingur Olafsson, Sayaka Shoji, Gilles Apap etc. Her repertoire ranges from baroque to contemporary music. Several composers have written and dedicated pieces to her including Jaan Rääts, Tõnu Kõrvits, Rein Rannap, Ülo Krigul etc. A.-L. Bezrodny has recorded a CD in cooperation with the pianist Ivari Ilja (ALBA Records, 2009), E. Tamberg’s Violin Concerto with the Vanemuine Symphony Orchestra (con. Mihkel Kütson, 2010), Haydn and Mozart’s Concertos (ERP, 2013) and Mendelssohn’s Octet with Maxim Vengerov (EMI Records, 2019). She is a professor at the Karlsruhe Hochschule für Musik in Germany and she teaches at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and the Purcell School. A.-L. Bezrodny plays on a Hieronymus II Amati violin, kindly on loan from the Finnish Cultural Foundation.
MAANO MÄNNI has graduated from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (1992, Prof. Jüri Gerretz). He has worked as a concertmaster at the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra (1993-1996) and the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra (1993-2000) and since 2002 at the Vaasa City Orchestra in Finland. In addition to orchestral work, M. Männi is an active chamber musician, performing with international musicians such as Ralf Gothoni (piano), Torleif Thedéen (cello), Yuval Gotlibovich (viola) etc. In 2001, M. Männi co-founded, with cellist Aare Tammesalu, the Tobias String Quartet, with which they have played in several parts of Europe, including Konzerthaus in Berlin (2015) and Capella Hall in St. Petersburg (2018). He has been a soloist in front of several orchestras conducted by outstanding conductors, including Neeme Järvi, Alexander Vedernikov, Andrei Boreiko, Arvo Volmer, Juha Kangas, Jin Wang and others. M. Männi has furthered his skills at the orchestral conducting courses of Jorma Panula, Leonid Grin and Ilmar Tõnisson. He has led the Estonian Sinfonietta as well as Vaasa and Pärnu City orchestras. He likes to synthesize musical styles and put together unique concert programs. In Vaasa, the concerts conducted by M. Männi which are meant for various audiences (school and senior concerts), as well as wish concerts (“Sinun hetkesi-Din stund”, the Flamenco and Tango Nuevo concerts, the Tchaikovsky portrait), have earned the audience’s favour. In 2015, he directed Glass Bead Game Sinfonietta at Evald Vainu’s jubilee concerts “Optimist” with the actors of the Tallinn City Theatre in Estonia’s major concert halls, which were also recorded for ETV. M. Männi has recorded for several record companies including Erdeklang, Ondine and Alba Records. In 2012, the CD “Six seasons +” was released, where he performs the works of Astor Piazzolla and Evald Vainu for violin and orchestra as the soloist of the Pärnu City Orchestra. The record has received positive feedback, and music critic Igor Garshnek has said: ““Six seasons +” to every record shelf!” (Sirp, 2013/10/04). In 2014, the Vaasa City Orchestra CD was released called “Finnish Lyricism and Romance” on which M. Männi plays as a soloist in Toivo Kuula’s violin piece Notturno Op. 3a/2 orchestrated by himself. During the 2017/2018 concert season, he led Vaasa City Orchestra on several occasions, where, among others, a reputable soprano Camilla Nylund appeared as a soloist. With the Estonian Sinfonietta, he has had close cooperation since the founding of the orchestra in January 2017. Together they have performed at various festivals in Estonia (e.g. Kuressaare Chamber Festival), as well as in Greece and Israel. In 2019, M. Männi performed in front of the Estonian Sinfonietta at the Estonian Concert Hall as a soloist, conductor as well as concertmaster and he performed at the Golden Hall of Vienna Musikverein, with Kristiina Poska as the conductor. As of 2016, M. Männi plays on the French master Charles François Gandi’s violin from 1810 of the Finnish Cultural Endowment. In the spring of 2021, the music days of composer Toivo Kuula will take place in Helsinki and Vaasa on the initiative of Maano Männi.
ANDRES KALJUSTE is a conductor and viola player, who’s path as a musician and instrument studies began in Aivo Riikjärve’s violin class. The graduation from Tallinn Music High School was followed by studies in the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, Royal College of Music in Stockholm and Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” Berlin. His teachers have been Urmas Vulp, Nina Balabina, Oleg Balabine and Prof. Ulf Wallin. After violin studies A. Kaljuste was the member of the Academy of Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, which was followed by a career as a freelance musician in London’s orchestras Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra and in Finland as a guest concertmaster in Oulu Sinfonia. Between 2014-2017 A. Kaljuste was a guest concertmaster of the viola group of Helsinki Philharmonic and at the same time he obtained his orchestral conducting Master’s degree at the Sibelius Academy (Prof. Atso Almila and Hannu Lintu). During the 2016/17 season A. Kaljuste debuted as a conductor in front of several orchestras including Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic, Tampere Philharmonic, Odense Symphony Orchestra, Oulu Sinfonia and during the last season he debuted in front of Avanti! Chamber Orchestra. He also stepped in at very short notice to conduct Lahti Sinfonia in a programme of Vaughan Williams, Barber and Dutilleux. In the coming season there will be debuts with the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, among others. A. Kaljuste has worked as a violin and viola teacher at the Stockholm Lilla Akademien, as an orchestra conductor and as a tutor of instrumental ensembles. He has also given master classes in England, France, Russia and China. As a soloist he has played with ENSO, Verona Philharmonic, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Vanemuine Symphony Orchestra, Pärnu City Orchestra, Pori Sinfonieta and Belgrade Strings. In 2010, A. Kaljuste made his debut at the Berlin’s Konzerthaus, performing the Brahms Violin Concerto under Kristiina Poska.
VALLE-RASMUS ROOTS started his cello studies at the Tallinn Music High School (Mart Laas, 2001) which he graduated in 2013 (M. Laas, Prof. Henry-David Varema). In 2017, he graduated with honors from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre’s Bachelor’s studies (Prof. Varema and Marko Ylönen) and in 2020 he finished his Master’s studies there also with honors (Prof. Varema). Since 2020, he continues his studies in EAMT in conducting. During the academic year of 2015/16, V.-R. Roots studied in Berlin via ERASMUS+ student exchange program at Universität der Künste Berlin (Prof. Wolfgang Boettcher). During the academic year of 2017/18, he studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki (Prof. Marko Ylönen). V.-R. Roots has successfully taken part in several competitions: 1st prize at the Baltic String Competition (2018, in Lithuania, Vilnius) and the laureate of Estonian National Stringplayers Competition-Festival (2011, 2013). With pianist Auli Lonks he was a laureate of the chamber music competition In Corpore in 2015. He is the laureate of Yamaha scholarship (2016). V.-R. Roots has been a soloist with Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Tallinn Music High School Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonic Orchestra of Baden-Baden, Pärnu City Orchestra and EAMT Symphony Orchestra. He has taken part in several courses and mastercourses with distinguished cellists including David Geringas, Wolfgang Boettcher, Jan-Erik Gustafsson, Nicholas Jones, Marko Ylönen, Francis Gouton etc. V.-R. Roots plays a Celeste Farotti cello (owner Mrs Maivi Kaljuvee) kindly on loan from Estonian Foundation of Musical Instruments.
VLADIMIR RESHETKO has studied in St. Petersburg and he continued his education in Amsterdam and Berlin. V. Reshetko has been the prizewinner of International Heran Cello Competition (1999). He has been awarded 1st prize and special prize for the best interpretation of a work by F. Schubert in International Chamber Music Competition “Franz Schubert and the Modern Music” (2009), 1st prize in C. Hennen Chamber Music Competition (2009) and 1st prize in Pergamenschikow Prize for Chamber Music (2011). He is a co-founder and a member of Anima Quartet. In the recent seasons, he premiered Ana Sokolovic’s “Commedia dell’arte III” dedicated to Anima Quartet. All 3 parts were released by SWR Alassic Archive in 2016. In September 2017 V. Reshetko became a concertmaster of the cello group of Vaasa City Orchestra. He has toured across many countries and performed alongside eminent musicians. He has performed as a soloist with conductors Vasily Petrenko and Ravil Martynov in front of the St. Petersburg State Academic Orchestra. V. Reshetko has formed a wide solo, chamber and an orchestra repertoire, including works of contemporary, classical and baroque styles. His recent solo debut in Finland and premiere of A. Kraft’s Cello Concerto was highly appreciated: “Vladimir Reshetko gave a powerfully moving musical performance. His deeply felt phrasing, the rich and lyrical timbre of the cello, as well as his masterful virtuosity delivered a fresh performance in Kraft’s Cello Concerto. The audience thanked the soloist with enthusiastic ovations.” – Pohjalainen 30.03.2019, Vaasa.
PONTUS GRANS started playing the double bass in Lohja with Peter Grans and studied in the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki with Lasse Lagercrantz and Panu Pärssinen. Studies continued in Switzerland (Duncan McTier) and he has taken part in numerous masterclasses. Since autumn 2017, P. Grans has been the concertmaster of the double bass group of the Vaasa City Orchestra having previously worked in the Oulu Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he has been invited to take part of the performances of Helsinki City Orchestra and he plays regularly with the Wegelius Chamber String Orchestra. P. Grans represented Finland in the European Union Youth Orchestra in the years 2009-10. He is an active chamber musician and has performed Einojuhani Rautavaara’s and Eduard Tubin’s concertos as a soloist. P. Grans commissioned and premiered Lars Karlsson’s work Sonata da camera for double bass and piano in the summer of 2017.
TOOMAS VAVILOV finished his clarinet studies in 1988 at Tallinn Music High School (Ülo Üksik) and in1992 at Estonian Academy of Music (Hannes Altrov) and in 1998 at the same place as an orchestral conductor (Jüri Alperten). He has furthered his skills in the field of conducting with Jonas Aleksa and Roman Matsov and as a clarinettist he has attended the master classes of Karl Leister and Ivan Mozgovenko. In 1990 he won the first prize at the Estonian Brass Players Competition. T. Vavilov was Estonian National SymphonyOrchestra second conductor from 2004 to 2006. In 2006/07 he was the music director and chief conductor of Vanemuine Theatre. He has led Estonian orchestras, worked with the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and the Latvian Radio Choir. As a clarinettist, he has given concerts in Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Germany, Belgium, Australia and elsewhere. He is a professor at EAMT and a teacher at the EAMT Brass Department. He has continuously taught summer courses of brass students in Elva and Põltsamaa and he has been part of a jury of various competitions. T. Vavilov has received the Annual Prize of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia’s Sound Art Foundation in 2001 and an annual scholarship of the interpreter in 2005.
PEETER SARAPUU has for the majority of his career been connected to Estonian National Symphony Orchestra (ENSO), where he worked between 1985-91 in the beginning and after seven seasons as the principal bassoonist in different Finnish orchestras again since 1998. Since 2005 he has been the principal bassoonist of the ENSO. As a soloist in front of an orchestra P. Sarapuu debuted in Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto with the ENSO and with conductor Peeter Lilje (1986). He has repeatedly been a bassoon soloist in Eino Tamberg’s “Concerto grosso” (1998 Arvo Volmer, 2010 Olari Elts, ENSO) and in Hindemith’s Concerto for trumpet, bassoon and strings (2008 Nikolai Aleksejev, ENSO) and John Williams’ bassoon concerto “Five Sacred Trees” (2012 Olari Elts, ENSO). In addition, he has been a soloist in front of the Chamber Orchestra of Lapland and the Vaasa City Orchestra with Vivaldi’s, Mozart’s and Weber’s bassoon concertos. He has played with NYYD Ensemble, Drottingholm Baroque Orchestra, Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, the Sixth Floor Orchestra (Kuudennen Kerroksen Orkesteri), Opus X Ensemble (Finland), Corelli Consort, Reval Ensemble, The Theatre of Voices (Gr. Britain), Kesselberg Ensemble (Switzerland), Melomania (Netherlands) and many other collectives. P. Sarapuu’s repertoire includes preferably early music on original instruments and contemporary music. Chamber music has always played an important part in his repertoire, and he has performed as soloist and a chamber musician of several Estonian and international music festivals including “NYYD”, “Märzmusik”, “Klangspuren”, Bruges Festival, “Europa musicale”, Haydn-Festival Vienna, La Folle Journée France and Japan etc. He has recorded music for the ENB archive and played as a soloist on several records. P. Sarapuu has been a Walter-artist from 2010. He has been nominated for the Estonian National Cultural Award twice (2012, 2016). Besides a career as a performer, for over two decades P. Sarapuu has taught students at several Finnish educational institutions, the Tallinn Music High School, the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre and in several master courses.
KREETE PERANDI started French horn studies at the age of 11 at Tartu County Music School (teacher Priit Sonn) and continued at the H. Eller Tartu Music School (teacher Kaido Otsing) and the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (Prof. Kalervo Kulmala). From 2007 to 2011, K. Perandi was an orchestra musician of the Vanemuine Symphony Orchestra, followed by studies in Frankfurt, Germany, at the University of Music and Performing Arts (Prof. Dr. Esa Tapani, bachelor’s degree 2016). Since 2018, she is studying at the Academy of Music and Theatre in Munich (Prof. Johannes Hinterholzer). K. Perandi has been a member of the Baltic Youth Philharmonic (2011-2014) and an apprentice at the Stuttgart Philharmonic (2015-2016). Over the years, she has participated in the work of several ensembles and orchestras in Estonia and abroad, such as Estonian Sinfonietta, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Pärnu City Orchestra, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Camerata Salzburg. She has won the grand prix in the Estonian Competition for Wind Instruments (2018).
STEN LASSMANN has received wide recognition in his homeland and abroad. He has successfully given solo and chamber concerts and been a soloist in front of several orchestras. S. Lassmann has performed in such reputed concert venues as Moscow Conservatory Grand and Small Hall, Purcell Room in London, Giuseppe Verdi Hall in Milano, Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto and Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. He has studied in Tallinn Music High School (Ell Saviauk, Ira Floss and Ivari Ilja), after which he went to Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (Prof. Ivari Ilja) and London Royal Academy of Music (Prof. Ian Fountain). S. Lassmann has furthered his skills in The Conservatoire de Paris (Prof. Brigitte Engerer) and taken part in the masterclasses of several well-known musicians including Boris Berman, Konstantin Lifschitz, Michael Roll, Alexander Satz, Howard Shelley and Maxim Vengerov. In addition to 1st Prize at the VI National Competition for Pianists in Tallinn (2002), S. Lassmann has been awarded with several prizes at international competitions. He is the laureate of the XIV Heino Eller Music Prize (2001), annual prize of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia’s Sound Art Endowment (2015) and in 2018 Lassmann was chosen as a member of the London Royal Academy of Music. Since 2008, S. Lassmann has been engaged with performing, researching and introducing the piano music of Heino Eller and he has recorded the entire piano music of Eller (206 pieces). Eller’s piano music was also the base of his dissertation in London Royal Academy of Music (PhD in Performance Practice, 2013) and since 2011 a series called “Heino Eller – Complete Piano Music” is issued in cooperation with the record company Toccata Classics, which is said to include 9 CD-s in total. S. Lassmann is a senior lector of EAMT’s Piano Department and the artistic director of the festival “KLAVER” (“PIANO”).