The music of modern Estonian composers will be featured in a chamber music concert “Contemporary Music from Estonia” at 8 p.m. tonight in the Weigel Auditorium.
The concert is the result of collaboration between Ohio State’s School of Music and the Sonus Artis Project, a program that unites Estonia and Ohio through musical performances.
Olev Viro, a violinist in the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, started Sonus Artis in 1997 for both personal and musical reasons.
“I am a first generation American; my parents were both from Estonia,” Viro said. “I just took interest in the culture of the music as a musician, but then I wanted to present concerts and recitals and develop relationships with Estonian musicians. Also, I wanted to develop awareness of Estonian music and culture.”
The concert will feature five selections, three of which are by Erkki-Sven Tüür, an esteemed musician in Estonia.
Donald Harris, professor of music, said Tüür enjoyed success in another musical genre but was limited by the political climate of his homeland.
“Interestingly enough, he was a famous rock musician in Estonia when it was still controlled by the Soviet Union,” Harris said. “His rock music was suppressed and the Russians wouldn’t let him travel at all because they didn’t want it to spread. So, he gave up rock music and started to write contemporary classical music.”
Harris added that although Tüür switched to contemporary classical composition, his music still maintained Western influences of rock and minimalism.
Viro also noted the influence of Estonia’s location and history in the music.
“The political and social aspects of Estonia shape the composers – the same people have been in that same area for thousands of years,” Viro said. “Estonia is informed by some very old traditions and music is a very important one.”
Caroline Hong, professor of piano, will be playing at tonight’s performance and said Tüür’s pieces combine a defined classical structure with improvisation, an unlikely pair.
“There are elements of freedom and improvisation to some extent, yet they have specific motives that they build upon. It’s classical in the sense that there is a form, and a structure is developed to some degree by the motives,” Hong said.
The two other pieces in the program are “Quasi Improvisata” by Lepo Sumera, Tüür’s teacher, and “Islands” by Helena Tulve, Tüür’s student.
Hong said that although the concert will contain elements not typically heard in classical music, people will appreciate the combination of traditional and non-traditional sounds and the skill of the musicians.
“I think it will be a good concert because it has a good mix of people,” Hong said. “Sometimes contemporary classical music can turn people off but I think the audience will find something interesting and palatable in every piece.”
Tickets can be purchased at the door, $10 for OSU faculty, staff and alumni, $5 for citizens and free to OSU students. Tüür will also hold a lecture at 4:30 p.m. today in Weigel Auditorium that is free and open to all. For more info, call 292-2300.
