Only 21st Century. Mini concert
Program: Magnus Lindberg, Liisa Hõbepappel (premier), Alireza Farajianhamedani (premier)
On April 14, pianist Tähe-Lee Liiv will appear with the mini-concert “Only 21st Century,” inaugurating both the new concert series “Only…” and a new “mini-concert” format. This is a concert of up to half an hour, offering the opportunity to experience music in a small yet substantial portion. Two mini-concerts will take place on the same day: at 5:00 PM “Only 21st Century” and at 5:30 PM “Only 20th Century.” This structure allows early arrivals to also attend the following concert and creates a flexible format for fast-paced culture enthusiasts, tourists, and school students, for whom this may become their very first real concert experience. If desired, attending several mini-concerts in succession can provide a much broader and more complete musical experience.
The new series “Only…” emphasizes a specific theme at each concert. The mini-concert “Only 21st Century” focuses on contemporary Estonian and Finnish music. The program includes two virtuosic miniatures by Finland’s most renowned living composer, Magnus Lindberg – “Etude I” (2001) and “Etude II” (2004) – which present both technical challenges and fresh forms of expression for the pianist. Alongside Lindberg’s works, world premieres by young composers Liisa Hõbepappel and Estonia-based Iranian composer Alireza Farajianhamedani will be performed.
The concert takes place just before Tähe-Lee Liiv’s recording session for the label Da Vinci Classics, under which her second CD of Finnish piano music will be released. The album will feature works by Jean Sibelius, Einojuhani Rautavaara, and Magnus Lindberg. Thus, the mini-concert offers an opportunity to experience 21st-century piano music in a fresh and concentrated format, just ahead of an important international recording project.
“Liiv’s impressive interpretations demonstrate a clear and nuanced understanding of what Arvo Pärt’s music is about, in both its spiritual and material forms.”
– Gramophone Magazine, April 2024
Born in 2003, Tähe-Lee Liiv is regarded as one of Estonia’s brightest rising stars in piano. The winner of numerous piano competitions at home and abroad, she has performed in solo recitals, chamber music concerts, and as soloist with orchestras in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Israel, Latvia, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.S.
In the 2024-2025 season, Tähe-Lee was nominated by Sir András Schiff to take part in his Building Bridges initiative, performing recitals in Europe’s capital cities. This season she is delighted to return for the third time to Flagey in Brussels. Other highlights include debuts at the Festival Afekt and in Musikdorf Ernen as well as a collaboration with the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, playing three Bach keyboard concertos.
She has made solo appearances in music festivals such as Lockenhaus, Austria; the Sibelius Festival and the Mänttä Music Festival in Finland; the Menuhin Festival Piano Academy in Gstaad, Valdarno and Palermo festivals in Italy. She has collaborated with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, the New York Camerata Orchestra, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, the Kremerata Baltica Orchestra, the Jerusalem Kamerata Orchestra, among others.
The concertos that Tähe-Lee has performed encompass classical concertos by Beethoven, Grieg, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Haydn and Mozart, as well as such lesser-played works as Chopin’s Rondo à la Krakowiak, Mendelssohn’s Double Concerto for Piano, Violin and orchestra, Fazil Say’s “Silk Road”, as well as the Piano Concerto and Variations for Piano, Clarinet and Orchestra by Ester Mägi, often hailed as the First Lady of Estonian Music.
Tähe-Lee’s debut CD in 2023 with Estonian Records Productions label presents the complete piano works of Arvo Pärt, the celebrated Estonian composer of contemporary classical music, and received excellent reviews internationally. In 2026 her second CD featuring the works of Sibelius, Rautavaara, and Lindberg will be released on Da Vinci Classics.
Tähe-Lee is honoured to be RCM scholar. A graduate of the Tallinn Music High School, Accademia Perosi and the Sibelius Academy’s Young Musicians International Class, Tähe-Lee’s teachers include Marrit Gerretz-Traksmann, Ivari Ilja, Hui-Ying Liu-Tawaststjerna, Dmitri Alexeev, Konstantin Bogino. Since 2022 she has studied with Sir András Schiff at the Barenboim-Said Academy in Berlin.
https://kammermuusikud.ee/syndmused/only-21st-century-2025-2026