Tõnu Kõrvits: Mirror

Estonian composer Tõnu Kõrvits, born in Tallinn in 1969, is a rising star in Estonian contemporary music. His sound world is characterized by poetic and visionary fantasies that take the listener on hypnotic journeys through landscapes of nature and folk traditions, the human soul, and the subconscious. He graduated from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in 1994 with a degree in composition and has been a lecturer in composition and instrumentation there since 2001 (and a professor since 2017). Alongside Veljo Tormis's shamanistic incantations, Erkki-Sven Tüür's energetic explosions, and Arvo Pärt's religious contemplations, Kõrvits's music stands out for its evocative melodies, embedded in a rich and sophisticated spectrum of harmonics and timbres. His evocative titles often reflect romantic allegories or mythological imagery. Over the past decade, Estonian folk songs, and sometimes other archaic and exotic song traditions, have become important sources of inspiration for the composer. He has been a member of the Estonian Composers' Union since 1994 and has received numerous awards, including the Heino Eller Music Prize (2001), the Order of the White Star, 3rd Class (2016), the Lepo Sumera Composition Prize (2018), and the Culture Prize of the Republic of Estonia (2012 and 2016).