Only 21st Century. Mini-concert. Tähe-Lee Liiv (piano) • Only...

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 younger generation 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.
taheleeliiv.com

Liisa Hõbepappel (b. 1994) is an Estonian composer of the younger generation whose work is characterized by refined sensitivity to timbre, attention to detail, and a search for new means of expression. In her music, small sonic elements intertwine into dense networks of meaning, and her style has been compared to finely detailed graphic art.
Her works have been performed by ensembles in Estonia and abroad. The Estonian National Symphony Orchestra premiered her orchestral work “Ja nüüd on ikka veel nüüd” (“And Now Is Still Now”). In recent years, she has focused on opera, creating the children’s opera “Der kleine Prinz oder seine erste Reise in die Herzen” during a residency in Northern Germany, as well as the chamber opera “Põrmuline” in collaboration with Ensemble U:.
Hõbepappel has received international recognition as the regional winner of the 2022 Discovering Young Composers of Europe (DYCE) competition. Her work “Rosa majalis”, commissioned as a result, was performed by several contemporary music ensembles across Europe and was awarded second place in the under-30 category at the International Rostrum of Composers, where it was also included in the list of recommended works.
She studied at the Heino Eller Music School and graduated cum laude from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in 2021. She is currently pursuing her master’s studies there and also holds a BA in Journalism and Communication from the University of Tartu.
About the new work “LOG”:
The solo piano piece “LOG” was created in parallel with reading Invisible Women by British feminist activist Caroline Criado Perez, a bestselling book about the systematic discrimination of women.
This piano work functions as the performer’s personal log — an emotionally precise and sober reflection on self-erasure, on dissolving into everything and everyone, and on coping with an inner instinct for self-destruction.
Excerpt from the score:
I happen to forget
& everything around me drifts
& everything yearns for my attention

& I disassociate, & everything becomes blurred
& everything stings
& oh how it floats

& then, I surrender to destruction
& I dissolve in it
& oh how beautiful it is
liisahobepappel.com

Alireza Farajianhamedani (b. 1993) is a composer of Iranian heritage whose work spans orchestral, chamber, solo, theatre, and film music. His compositions have been performed in Estonia and internationally, including collaborations with the Ensemble for New Music Tallinn. Alongside his creative output, he has been active as both a composer and organizer in various artistic initiatives.
His works have received recognition in both orchestral and solo categories. In 2023, he won the Best Original Score award at the Iraani Noorte Filmifestival for his film music. Internationally, he was awarded first prize at the Premio Alberghini (2021) and at the Premio Natalino Corazza (2019) for his solo work. His music has been presented at numerous festivals and concert series across Europe.
In 2018, Farajianhamedani began his studies in applied music at the Conservatorio di G.B. Martini in Bologna. In 2021, he continued his composition studies at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (EAMT), graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in 2024. He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree at the same institution. His principal teachers have included Toivo Tulev, Helena Tulve, Tõnu Kõrvits, and Aurelio Zarrelli. He has also participated in masterclasses with Chaya Czernowin, Marc Sabat, Pēteris Vasks, and Salvatore Sciarrino.
Farajianhamedani’s music reflects a deep engagement with intonation, combination tones, and alternative tuning systems, often exploring their relationship to Iranian musical traditions. In addition to his compositional work, he has served as an organizer and artistic director of several international projects, including the composition competition at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (EMTAHK).
About the new work “Indolent Boredom of the Heaviest Lightness”:
Things happen to contradict themselves. Comprehension has become a fatigued burden. This piece is to be an attempt to musicalize this state. Indolent boredom of the heaviest lightness.

Magnus Lindberg (b. 1958) is the most widely known Finnish living composer, whose music combines rigorous structural thinking with vibrant, often explosive sonic energy. His style is marked by a sophisticated use of orchestral color, dynamic rhythm, and textural density, balancing complexity with clarity. Lindberg studied composition with Einojuhani Rautavaara at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. He has been a key figure in contemporary European music since the 1980s. His compositions have been performed worldwide by leading orchestras and ensembles, including the London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Intercontemporain, and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Lindberg has also been commissioned by major festivals and institutions, such as the BBC Proms, the Helsinki Festival, and the New York Philharmonic. His oeuvre spans orchestral, chamber, solo, and vocal music, and he has collaborated with internationally renowned conductors including Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, and Simon Rattle.
The solo piano Etudes Etude I (1990) and Etude II (1993) are intense studies in texture, rhythm, and resonance, exploring the piano’s full expressive range. Etude I focuses on energetic, flowing gestures, dense clusters, and rapid transformations of texture, creating a feeling of relentless momentum. Etude II expands on these ideas with an even greater emphasis on harmonic saturation and resonance, demanding from the performer not only technical precision but also a sense of architectural shaping of sound.