As producer, musician and composer he founded his New York-based classical-hip-hop-jazz group Absolute Ensemble to create genre fusion shows on the highest level. As music director of the MDR Radio Orchestra and Music Director of the Baltic Sea Philharmonic, he now also leads both the oldest Radio Orchestra in Europe and the newest young musicians Orchestra. An entrepreneur by nature and a passionate producer, Kristjan Järvi runs his own production company “Sunbeam Productions”, creating events that offer new experiences combining music, visual art, light design and technology with innovative concepts that takes the audience on a unique journey.

The story behind Volker Bertelmann – known best these days as HAUSCHKA – is not necessarily what you’d expect. Although he is one of the most recognisable 21st Century proponents of what is known as prepared piano – one whose sound is altered by the insertion of alien objects between or upon its strings, hammers and dampers – he was barely aware of the champions of such a practise when he first began his experiments. Even John Cage was a largely unfamiliar name that fateful day when he sat in the studio of his friend Adam Fuest and, frustrated by the sounds he was making, starting placing random objects into the instrument.

Maarja in performance searches for a lively and relaxed state like a cat poised to leap. She says this state “gives rise to music and makes me want to prolong being in the moment while altering ways of seeing, hearing and perceiving. It is always “now” and old tunes are as fresh as improvisations which were born a second ago”. This is how she tells us her intimate stories using fiddles, her voice and modern electronics. In the spring of 2013, Maarja released her debut album “Soolo” that generated a small buzz in Europe. Maarja has toured the USA, Canada and Europe, won the Artist Award at Tallinn Music Week, and made a very successful showcase at the WOMEX International Conference in Spain.