Lepo Sumera

Lepo Sumera studied composition at the Tallinn Conservatory under Heino Eller and Heino Jürisalu graduating in 1973. Sumera became a symbol of Estonian cultural life and a moulder of the national identity at the time Estonia gained its independence. He was Estonia's Minister of Culture in 1988-1992 and in many respects a prominent figure in the field, Chairman of the Society of Estonian Composers and a Professor at the Academy of Music. Early in his career Sumera applied a free dodecaphonic approach to his writings, but in the late 1970's he adopted a modal technique - a style that coloured his symphonies and became the basis of his music. Lepo Sumera has composed six symphonies in all and among his other works are the Piano Concerto (1987/97) and the masterly Music for Chamber Orchestra (1976). Other works by him include two ballets, cantatas, film scores and chamber music. Sumera's musical style moves along an axis from sensitivity to tragedy, extending even to grotesque irony at times. He has aimed for a stylistic synthesis of historical and contemporary compositional devices. According to Paavo Järvi "Sumera's music uses a lot of aleatoric techniques and it burns, it is quite spiritual. It is concerned with changing textures and colours".