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Artur Lemba 140: Celebrating the Music of Estonia’s Liszt
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Artur Lemba 140: Celebrating the Music of Estonia’s Liszt
Artur Lemba was one of Estonia’s first professional pianists as well as a distinguished composer, educator, and music critic. This year marks the 140th anniversary of his birth. To celebrate this grand milestone, several concerts have already taken place and more are upcoming: on September 24, a large-scale concert was held at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, on 26 September at Kuressaare Cultural Centre that included the two symphonies, overtures and other works for orchestra.
The highlight of the festivities will arrive on 11 October, when three of Artur Lemba’s splendid chamber works will be performed at the Arvo Pärt Centre. The programme will feature Lemba’s String Quartet (1934), Piano Quartet (1938), and Piano Quintet (1946). In addition, pianist Sten Lassmann will offer fascinating insights into various aspects of Lemba’s musical oeuvre.
Performing on this occasion will be the acclaimed M4GNET Quartet (Robert Traksmann, Katariina Maria Kits-Reimal, Mart Kuusma, and Siluan Hirvoja) together with the esteemed concert pianist Sten Lassmann, who will also provide fascinating insights into various aspects of Lemba’s musical oeuvre. This concert will also feature a special presentation: EMIC will present a newly published edition of Artur Lemba’s String Quartet, with music engraving by Taavi Hark and exacting editing done by Sten Lassmann.
Lemba’s rich body of work is characterised by a romantic style and a lyrical, melody-filled musical language. In his youth, he was often called the “Liszt of Estonia” – both for his virtuosic pianism and for his compositions – and during his lifetime he was among the few Estonian musicians to appear on prestigious stages in Helsinki and Berlin.
Artur Lemba was born on 24 September 1885 in Tallinn and died on 21 November 1963. He studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where he was a student of Alexander Glazunov and Felix Blumenfeld. His career encompassed work as a concert pianist, composer, professor at the Tallinn Conservatory, and music critic. Lemba composed symphonies, chamber music, piano works, and Estonia’s first opera Sabina (1905), leaving a lasting mark on the country’s musical history.
Artur Lemba 140 · String Quartet M4GNET · Sten Lassmann (piano)
Saturday, October 11th at 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Arvo Pärt Center, Laulasmaa
Artur Lemba was one of Estonia's first professional pianists and an outstanding composer, teacher and music critic. This year marks the 140th anniversary of Lemba's birth. On this occasion, three beautiful chamber works by Artur Lemba will be performed in the enchanting hall of the Arvo Pärt Centre, and Sten Lassmann will provide insight into the creator and various aspects of his work.
Lemba's rich oeuvre is characterized by a romantic style and a lyrical, melodic language. In his youth, he was often called the Estonian Liszt - both because of his virtuoso playing style and composition - and during his lifetime he was one of the few Estonian musicians to perform on the prestigious stages of St. Petersburg, Helsinki, and Berlin.
STEN LASSMANN is one of Estonia's most prominent pianists, who has received favorable attention both at home and abroad. He has successfully given solo and chamber concerts and has performed solo in front of many orchestras. Sten Lassmann studied at the Tallinn Music High School, where his teachers were Ell Saviauk, Ira Floss and Ivari Ilja; then at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (EMTA) in the piano class of Prof. Ivari Ilja and at the Royal Academy of Music in London under Prof. Ian Fountain. He has also improved his skills at the Paris Conservatory and participated in master classes with many well-known musicians, including Boris Berman, Konstantin Lifschitz, Michael Roll, Alexander Satz and Howard Shelley.
Since 2008, Lassmann has been deeply involved in performing, recording, researching and introducing the piano works of Heino Eller and has recorded all of Eller's piano music – 206 works. Sten Lassmann is a senior lecturer in piano at the Estonian Academy of Music and Performing Arts' Interpretation Department, and is also a member of the board of the Estonian Piano Teachers' Association, the Creative Council of Eesti Kontsert, and is the founder of the Heino Eller Foundation together with Olari Elts. Sten Lassmann is a laureate of the XIV Heino Eller Music Prize (2011) and the Annual Prize of the Estonian Cultural Endowment for the Sound Arts Endowment (2015, 2021), and was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM) in London in 2018.
STRING QUARTET M4GNET is a highly regarded and energetic chamber ensemble consisting of four top-level string players: Robert Traksmann (violin), Katariina Maria Kits-Reimal (violin), Mart Kuusma (viola) and Siluan Hirvoja (cello). The four renowned performers formed the quartet at the beginning of 2021, aiming to offer bright and meaningful interpretations of chamber music classics, but also to introduce listeners to lesser-known works and the latest new works by composers from Estonia. Most of the quartet members have been playing together in various formations for almost ten years, but the decisive impetus for the creation of a permanently operating quartet was the initiative of the Estonian Cultural Endowment's chamber ensemble residency program.
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