Programme:
Ludwig van Beethoven
Overture to the ballet “Children of Prometheus”/”Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus” op. 43
Piano Concerto no. 1 in C Major, op. 15
Piano Concerto no. 4 in G Major, op. 58

The last evening of the KLAVER festival brings to the audience two Beethoven’s piano concertos with a much more chamber-like orchestra and without a conductor, which gives the performers both freedom and responsibility. The soloist of the first piano concerto is Sten Heinoja, whose jovially direct and detail-sensitive pianism has opened the door to an international career. Heinoja is highly regarded as both a soloist and an ensemble partner. In 2014, Sten Heinoja won the Eighth Competition of Estonian Pianists, the past winners of which include several of Estonia’s most acknowledged pianists: Lauri Väinmaa, Ivari Ilja, Mati Mikalai, Age Juurikas, and others. In addition, in the same competition, Heinoja was awarded the Special Prize of the Composers ‘Union for the best performance of a new work, the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra Prize, the Special Prize of the Estonian Piano Teachers’ Association and the scholarships of Helmi Valtman and Lilian Semper. In the spring of 2016, Sten Heinoja won the big TV competition “Classic Stars”.

Beethoven’s fourth piano concert will be performed by renowned concert pianist and artistic director of the KLAVER festival, Sten Lassmann. As one of the most outstanding pianists in Estonia, Lassmann has deservedly received respectful attention both at home and abroad. In addition to the first place at the Seventh Competition of Estonian Pianists in Tallinn (2002), Sten Lassmann has won prizes in several international competitions. He is a laureate of the Fourteenth Heino Eller Music Prize (2011), the Estonian Cultural Endowment’s Sound Art Endowment Annual Prize (2015), and in 2018 Lassmann was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Music in London (ARAM). For more than a decade, Sten Lassmann has been performing, researching and introducing Heino Eller’s piano works. Among other things, Lassmann has recorded all of Eller’s piano music, 206 opuses altogether.