Draft:Alisson Kruusmaa

Alisson Kruusmaa

Overview

Alisson Kruusmaa (b. 1992) is an Estonian composer, known for her “ethereal, fragile and spacious soundscapes featuring a delicate and sparse orchestration.” Often inspired by nature, Kruusmaa has composed for symphony orchestras, soloists, choirs, as well as other instrumental ensembles. Her focus on timbre will affect the instrumentation of her pieces, like in writing for accordion in Accordion Concerto (2022) or Song on Texts by Andres Ehin for mezzo-soprano and timpani. While she currently resides in Tallinn, Estonia, Kruusmaa has had pieces commissioned in 3 continents, and has collaborated with many orchestras, including the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and Estonian National Symphony Orchestra. Kruusmaa's work has been premiered by many orchestras and music groups, including her song “Spring of Hope” (2021) at the International Cello Festival in Helsinki, “...and the Great Winds Come and Go” (2021) at the Louis Andriessen Festival in The Netherlands, “Ali” (2023) with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, and “So Set Its Sun in Thee” (2023) with the Estonian National Male Chorus and Raschér Saxophone Quartet. Since 2015, Kruusmaa has been a member of the Estonian Composers’ Union. In 2023, she joined Universal Edition, a well-known music publishing company. In her free time, Kruusmaa enjoys playing tennis.

Education

Alisson Kruusmaa earned her Bachelors and Masters of Arts degree from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theater, where she studied under Professor Helena Tulve and Tõnu Kõrvits. She then went on to study at the Milan Conservatory in Milan, and has recently completed her residency at the Dutch National Opera and Ballet, where she studied stage composition. Her new ballet will premiere in Estonia for the Estonian National Opera in 2024. Her new chamber opera is also set to premiere this year, in The Netherlands.

Compositions

Kruusmaa’s piano concerto, as if a river were singing… (2020), was commissioned by the Pärnu City Orchestra in 2020, and later compiled into an album by the same name. The album, created by Odradek Records, features pieces commissioned by the Pärnu City Orchestra written by three young Estonian composers: Kruusmaa, Maria Kõrvits (b. 1987), and Rasmus Puur (b. 1991). All the recordings are from their premieres in the Pärnu Concert Hall in Estonia. Kristina Kersa, who wrote the description of the album, goes on to say,

“But every album is always much more than just a collection of works. In its precise and sensitive form, it also reflects the music’s creators and performers, their ideas and approach. In this way, the album could be seen as a kind of musical riverbed, with many different rivers flowing into it – each with its own journey, its own song.”

Alisson Kruusmaa’s concerto, minimalist in nature, comprises 3 movements: I. Molto cantabile, con rubato; II. Dolce, sempre con rubato; III. Tempo rubato. The motivation for this piece, for Kruusmaa, was inspired by rivers:

“My work is inspired by the river as an image that has had countless meanings in different cultures throughout the ages – time and eternity, consciousness and subconsciousness, freedom and enlightenment, and so on. My music is based on the mysterious facets and shades of water and focuses on fluidity, space, contrasts and endless flow.”

Awards and Recognitions

From a young age, Alisson Kruusmaa has been recognized as a talented composer. In 2013, she received the Erkki-Sven Tüür Young Composer’s Scholarship. In 2018, she was awarded the Best Composition Prize at the 24th Young Composers Meeting in the Netherlands for her composition for mezzo-soprano and orchestra, Rain (2018). That same year, she was a featured composer at the Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra Composition Competition in Los Angeles. She was featured there again in 2021, and later won the Annual Prize of the Endowment for Music of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia. In 2023, she received the Tõnu Kaljuste fellowship.