Age Veeroos – Estonian Composers Union

Composer, ECU member since 2003
Born on 11.05.1973

Age Veeroos (born 1973) graduated cum laude with a Master’s degree in Composition from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in 2006, having studied under Eino Tamberg and Helena Tulve. During the 2005/2006 academic year, she continued her studies at the Karlsruhe University of Music under Wolfgang Rihm. She has also completed the doctoral programme in artistic research in music at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. She is currently working on her doctoral research entitled Sul ponticello on Bowed String Instruments – A Timbre Technique in Musical Structural Processes, with completion expected in 2027.

During her studies, she participated in the IRCAM Summer Course for Composers in Paris and attended masterclasses with Salvatore Sciarrino, Veli-Matti Puumala, Michael Finnissy, Betsy Jolas, and Georg Friedrich Haas. She also took part in the Acanthes Contemporary Music Summer Academy in Metz, working with the Arditti Quartet, and the Ensemble Aleph Young Composers’ Forum in Dresden. As part of her doctoral studies, she presented papers at international conferences at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin and the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in Tallinn.

In 1998, Veeroos graduated from the University of Tartu with a degree in German Philology. She also pursued further studies in literature at the University of Göttingen.

In 2002, Veeroos was commissioned to compose a new work for the 525th anniversary celebrations of the University of Tübingen. Her cantata Psalmodia for soprano, choir, and orchestra was premiered by soprano Monika Mauch together with the university’s academic choir and orchestra, conducted by Tobias Hiller. In 2004, the work was also performed by the choir of the University of Erlangen–Nuremberg and the Jena Philharmonic Orchestra under Konrad Klek.

In 2005, Veeroos was selected to represent Estonia in Kulturjahr der Zehn, a cultural programme introducing the ten new member states of the European Union. Ten young composers were commissioned to write short works inspired by Schubert’s song cycle Winterreise. These compositions were performed alongside Schubert’s songs at the Berlin Philharmonie by baritone Roman Trekel, pianist Burkhard Kehring, and Sinfonietta Leipzig, conducted by Johannes Harneit. That same year, she contributed a composition to the contemporary opera project As Time Goes By at the Hanover State Opera.

In 2008 and 2009, her chamber opera Tuleloitsija (Fire Enchanter), created as part of her doctoral project, was performed at Kanuti Gildi SAAL in Tallinn. Veeroos wrote the libretto herself, based on August Gailit’s short story Punased hobused (Red Horses). The production featured musicians from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, with stage direction by Liis Kolle and musical direction by Risto Joost.

In 2010, Veeroos and her creative team won First Prize in a music theatre project competition organised by the contemporary opera scene in Berlin. Their multimedia opera Grid premiered in 2011 at Berlin’s Kulturbrauerei. The production featured a libretto and stage direction by Korneel Hamers, video by Julian Bergheim, and set design by Julia Rommel. The performers included Celine Hänni (soprano), Andres Köster (tenor), Roomet Jakapi (male voice), Richard Craig (flutes), Riivo Kallasmaa (oboe), Jandra Puusepp (saxophone), Lars Burger (double bass), and Tammo Sumera (electronics), conducted by Taavi Kull.

Veeroos’s music has also been performed by numerous internationally renowned ensembles and orchestras, including Ensemble Musikfabrik (conducted by Clement Power), Klangforum Wien (conducted by Bas Wiegers and Peter Rundel), Syntax Ensemble, Ensemble Reflexion K, the Sinfonietta Rīga String Quartet, the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Clement Power and Risto Joost), Tallinn New Music Ensemble (conducted by Arash Yazdani), Ensemble U:, Hashtag Ensemble, the Arditti and ConTempo String Quartets, the Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen String Quartet, Ensemble Una Corda, Quattro Quarti Saxophone Quartet, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra (conducted by Risto Joost and Mikk Murdvee), NYYD Ensemble (conducted by Olari Elts), and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir (conducted by Paul Hillier).

She has collaborated with numerous soloists, including Petteri Pitko, Michele Marelli, Iris Oja, Maria Jönsson, George Kentros, Talvi Hunt, and Tarmo Johannes, among others.

Her compositions have been performed in Estonia and throughout Europe at prominent concert venues, including the Berlin Philharmonie, Radialsystem and Kulturbrauerei in Berlin, the Great Hall of the Vienna Konzerthaus, and PAARD in the Netherlands.

Her music has been featured at numerous international festivals, including Voices Festival in Berlin (2023), Baltic Music Days in Estonia and Latvia (2021, 2024, 2026), ISCM World Music Days in Tallinn (2019), the 40th International Music Festival at the Vienna Konzerthaus (2023), ProvinzLärm Festival in Germany (2022, 2025), Como Festival in Italy (2025), the international contemporary music festival AFEKT, and Estonian Music Days.

In autumn 2020, her percussion work Ma olen suur kuu su silmapiiril (I Am the Big Moon on Your Horizon) was nominated for international selection for the 17th European Contemporary Composers Orchestra (ECCO) Concert, organised by the European Composer and Songwriter Alliance (ECSA). The work was selected and performed in 2021 by percussion soloist Joey Marijs of Slagwerk Den Haag in a concert broadcast on YouTube.

In 2023, Veeroos received the Lepo Sumera Composition Award.

In 2024, the Austrian record label Kairos released a portrait album featuring her chamber music composed between 2019 and 2023. The album received widespread critical acclaim, including positive reviews by Aart van der Wal (Dutch and Belgian online publications OpusKlassiek and Klassiek-Centraal), Ismael G. Cabral (Scherzo), and Carme Miró (Sonograma). The album was also nominated by the German Record Critics’ Award (Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik) for its Quarterly Critics’ Choice list in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Veeroos was awarded a prestigious fellowship for 2027 by the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program, enabling her to live and work in Berlin for one year. Each year, the programme attracts applications from professional artists across a wide range of disciplines worldwide. Fellows in each artistic field are selected by a dedicated international jury.

In 2026, Veeroos received the Annual Award of the Music Department of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia in recognition of her distinctive and innovative compositions, which resonate with international audiences, and her outstanding contribution to the teaching of composition.

Additional information:
Estonian Music Information Centre
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