October 25th 2026 at 17 Blackheads House, Tallinn
CONCERTO GROSSO III. EINO TAMBERG

Maila Laidna, piano
Kristin Müürsepp, flute
Soo-Young Lee, clarinet
Rene Laur, saxophone
Stefan Heinrich Kerstan, bassoon
Mart Kivi, trumpet
Estonian Percussion Group
Estonian Sinfonietta
Concertmaster Klaus-Peter Haav
Conductor Maria Seletskaja

Eino Tamberg: ”Actually, I had no intention to write a concerto grosso; I just wanted to write a concerto. Since there were many skilful wind players in the Symphony orchestra of the Estonian Radio, I decided to use a wind ensemble. To get some edginess into the sound and rhythm, I added the piano and percussion. The title turned out wordy: „Concerto for five wind instrument, piano, percussion and string orchestra”. Only then did it come to my mind that at one time such ensemble concertos were called concerto grosso. This title may have influenced the style of the work. However, I had nothing to do with renewing an old genre. I merely wrote the kind of music I needed at that time.”

Concerto grosso proved to be extraordinarily popular. In 1957, it was awarded a Gold Medal at the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students. Thanks to this, the Concerto grosso was performed in both Eastern and Western Europe, laying the foundation for Tamberg's distinguished international career as a composer.

The evening will feature another work that has won a Best Musical Composition award. In 1984, this title was awarded by the expert council of the Tartu Pop Music Days to the humorous and innovative Typewriter Concerto in D by Eino Tamberg's student, Alo Mattiisen. This marked the beginning of Alo Mattiisen's meteoric rise on the Estonian music scene.

Tickets available at Piletilevi.