On July 19, at the final concert of the Pärnu Music Festival, composer Erkki-Sven Tüür received the Lepo Sumera Composition Award, an honor established by the Estonian Authors’ Association and the Estonian Composers’ Union.
“The perception of the world’s wholeness tends to be lost these days. Erkki-Sven Tüür’s music powerfully counteracts this fragmentation. By exploring essential themes of existence, his work exudes a powerful energy of change and a sense of cosmic vastness,” remarked jury president Helena Tulve on the jury’s decision.
The Lepo Sumera Composition Award values the clear development of the author’s style, the breadth of musical thinking, and the artistic depth in a composer’s work.
Erkki-Sven Tüür began his career during the late Soviet period, synthesizing the era’s trends such as progressive rock, neomodality, post-serialist complexity, and the sound aesthetics of electronic music. By the turn of the millennium, he developed an original compositional technique and style, utilizing classical instrumental forms like symphonies and instrumental concerts to unfold sound over time. Tüür’s work separates modern sound from the superficiality and fragmentation often associated with it, creating complete structures in the classical sense, thus continuing the tradition whose central figure in late 20th-century Estonian music was Lepo Sumera.
This year’s award recipient was selected by a jury comprising composer Helena Tulve, musicologist Kerri Kotta, and pianist Kadri-Ann Sumera.
Previous laureates of the Lepo Sumera Award include composers Tõnu Kõrvits, Helena Tulve, Toivo Tulev, Jüri Reinvere, Galina Grigorjeva, Ülo Krigul, Tatjana Kozlova-Johannes, and Age Veeroos. The award has been presented since 2016.
The prize includes a monetary reward of 4,500 euros, issued by the Estonian Authors’ Association and the Estonian Composers’ Union.