In the concert held on May 28 at 7.15 pm at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in Uppsala, Sweden, the Stenhammar Quartet premiers works by the participants of the Master Class in Composition 2012. Also a string quartet piece Canticle by Riho Maimets will meet its first performance. The concert will take place in collaboration with Royal Academic Orchestra and Uppsala University.
Riho Esko Maimets (b. 1988, Toronto) began his composition studies in 2004 at the Claude Watson Program at Earl Haig Secondary School with the strings teacher, Alan Torok. In 2010, he graduated from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in Tallinn, Estonia, where he had studied composition under the tutelage of Helena Tulve and René Eespere. He is currently finishing his graduate studies in composition at the University of Toronto with Christos Hatzis.
In the past year, Maimets' music has garnered international attention and recognition: in November, the 2011 Karen Kieser Prize in Canadian Music was awarded to Riho Esko Maimets for his work squall for 2 flutes, cello and piano. The prize is given each year by the University of Toronto to a graduate student in composition whose work is judged by a blue-ribbon jury as especially promising. In July 2011, Riho was awarded the highSCORE Festival Prize 2011 in Pavia, Italy, in recognition of young composer’s "mature and individual style ". In April 2012, his piece Sanctus was the winner of the Williers Quartet’s New Works Competition.