Tormis (1930-2017) was regarded as one of the great contemporary choral composers and one of the most important composers of the 20th century in Estonia. He is known internationally for his extensive body of choral music which are inspired by traditional ancient Estonian folksongs (regilaulud).

The concert's artistic director and conductor, Valter Soosalu, said important and gratifying to feel that Tormis has not disappeared.

"His work is vibrant and keeps much of our culture alive as well. This time, we are celebrating the presence and breath of this giant of Estonian cultural history in our fields of sound and thought in slightly newer and more unusual colors," he said.

The concert's stage director Laura Võigemast was initially daunted by the task.

"For me, Tormis' music is based on a very precise sensitivity to words, both musically and linguistically. That's why it initially felt a bit daunting to create new texts between new arrangements of his works. Yet all the passages that are heard have drawn their impulse from the original impulses of his music, from its genuine vocabulary, its original lyricism," she said.

"For the sake of a smile and playfulness, and as a tribute to Tormis' love for dialects, I was inspired to turn to the Thesaurus of the Estonian Language compiled by Andrus Saareste and to bring together thematic clusters of words that would connect with Tormis' music and begin to resonate together with it," she said, explaining her work.

A recording of the August 7 "Tormis 95" concert is available for listening on Klassikaraadio.

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