Jazzkaar 2020 closing concert: “Antarctica 200” Raun Juurikas, Arve Henriksen (Norway), Brian Quinn (Switzerland)

Jazzkaar considers it important to delight listeners with special projects every year, and this year is no exception. The festival will be opened with a work by the outstanding Estonian jazz musician and composer Raun Juurikas, “Antarctica 200”, which will be created and performed together with the Norwegian trumpeter, vocalist and composer Arve Henriksen, Swiss percussionist Brian Quinn and a choir conducted by Veronika Portsmuth.

On 28 January 2020 it will be 200 years from the day Admiral Bellingshausen from Saaremaa first saw the continent of Antarctica on his expedition. To celebrate this anniversary, the sailboat “Admiral Bellingshausen” with Estonian researchers on board sailed to Antarctica to highlight the changes in the polar environment. Using sounds recorded on the White Continent, Raun Juurikas will compose a work that presents a playful blend of electronic, jazz and classical music. According to the composer, the piece focuses not on science or politics, but on beauty: “Beauty is born from love for what we have, be it an eternal constant or an interesting evolution, and this, in its ethereality, can also inspire music.”

Raun Juurikas has studied classical and jazz piano and graduated from the Composition Department of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. He has a broad profile as a musician, arranger and composer, and he is known for creating fascinating electronic soundscapes. For several years he has been collaborating with the internationally acclaimed Swiss percussionist Brian Quinn in their duo, BRAUN. In addition to touring with some of the top jazz musicians of the world and being active in a trio with his brothers, Q3, Quinn has also performed with a number of other Estonian artists. Music lovers in Estonia have been also repeatedly delighted by the Norwegian Arve Henriksen, one of the most unique trumpeters in the world. The Guardian has praised Henriksen as a “brilliant, versatile improviser … who transports the listener to a land beyond borders of country or genre“. He first performed at Jazzkaar in 2004 with Supersilet. In 2011 he presented his music composed for glass instruments made specifically for a concert during European Capital of Culture in Tallinn. In 2016 he performed here with the vocal ensemble Trio Medivial, and his most recent Estonian performance took place in December 2018, with the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and Robert Jürjendal.