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Veljo Tormis

Born
Aug 7, 1930 · Aged 86
Died
Jan 21, 2017
Place of birth
Kuusalu, Harju County, Estonia
Gender
Male
Movie credits
1
TV credits
1

Biography

Veljo Tormis (August 7, 1930 – January 21, 2017) was an Estonian composer, regarded as one of the great contemporary choral composers and one of the most important composers of the 20th century in Estonia. Internationally, his fame arises chiefly from his extensive body of choral music, which exceeds 500 individual choral songs, most of it a cappella. The great majority of these pieces are based on traditional ancient Estonian folksongs (regilaulud), either textually, melodically, or merely stylistically. His composition most often performed outside Estonia, Curse Upon Iron (Raua needmine)…