Jaak Sooäär
SOOLO concert
On Sunday 28 January at 4 pm the top Estonian guitar player Jaak Sooäär will perform at Tallinn Art Hall as part of the SOOLO concert series.
Guitar player, composer and ensemble leader Jaak Sooäär (born 1972 in Tallinn) is one of the most active jazz musicians in Estonia and the Baltic states in recent decades. After graduating from the University of Tartu and the Georg Ots Tallinn Music School, he was the first Estonian to receive a higher education in jazz music at the Copenhagen Rhythmic Music Conservatory (2001). After moving back to Estonia, he went to work at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, where he has been the Head of the Jazz Music Department since its establishment (2004). Jaak Sooäär was also the first chairman of the board of the Estonian Jazz Union (2004–2009) and remains a board member.
Jaak Sooäär has been active both in Estonia and elsewhere since 1989. His international collaboration partners include Tony Allen, Ray Anderson, Conny Bauer, Han Bennink, Raoul Björkenheim, Gavin Bryars, Will Calhoun, Kent Carter, Pierre Dørge, Daniel Erdmann, Arkady Gotesman, Mikko Innanen, Anders Jormin, Dave Kikoski, Alexey Kruglov, Dave Liebman, Joe Lovano, Ron McClure, Karlheinz Miklin, Liudas Mockunas, John Schröder, Louis Sclavis, Harri Sjöström, Vladimir Tarasov and Petras Vyshniauskas among others. He has also worked with several Estonian musicians from different generations. Sooäär’s international ensembles include The Dynamite Vikings, Erdmann/Sooäär Dessert Time (first place at the international festival of improvisation on Peer Gynt in Pärnu, 2001), Heavy Beauty, Kruglov-Sooäär Quartet, Sooäär/Yaralyan/Ounaskari and Almost Zebra (third place at the European Improvisation Tournament in Poitiers, 2001). In 2006, Jaak Sooäär performed as a guest soloist with the WDR Big Band in Germany. He participated in the European Youth Jazz Orchestra in 1999 and the EBU Big Band in 2003.
Jaak Sooäär has won the Estonian Music Award in the category Ethno/Folk Artist of the Year in 2003 and 2005 as a member of the ensemble Eesti Keeled, and in the category of Jazz Artist of the Year in 2013 as a member of the Mustonen/Sooäär/Remmel/Ruben Quartet. In 2007, Sooäär was awarded the very first annual Estonian Jazz Award as well as the annual award of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia. Jaak Sooäär has recorded more than 30 albums.
SOOLO concerts are organised in collaboration with Tallinn Art Hall, curated by Robert Jürjendal.
Entrance to the concert with a valid exhibition ticket.
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