Urmas Sisask

Urmas Sisask in 2011.

Estonian TV Girls' Choir with Urmas Sisask at St Paul's cathedral in London, 2008.

Urmas Sisask (born 9 September 1960 in Rapla) is an Estonian composer.

One of the major inspirations for his music is astronomy. Based on the trajectories of the planets in the solar system, he created the "planetal scale", a mode consisting of the pitches C#, D, F#, G#, and A. Later, he discovered to his surprise that this was exactly the same as the Japanese Kumayoshi mode, which is also known as the Japanese pentatonic scale.

Sisask is a Roman Catholic, and much of what he composes is sacred music.

Some of his works

• Starry Sky Cycle (Estonian: "Tähistaeva tsükkel") (1980–1987)
• Gloria Patri (1988)
• Pleiads ("Plejaadid") (1989)
• Milky Way ("Linnutee galaktika") (1990)
• Andromeda ("Andromeda galaktika") (1991)
• Benedictio (for mixed chorus) (1991)
• Christmas oratorio ("Jõuluoratoorium") (1992)
• Magnificat
• Missa Nr. 1
• Symbiotic Symphony ("Sümbiootiline Sümfoonia")
• Comet Hyakutake
• Ave Sol
• Missa Nr. 4 op. 46: Christmas mass ("Jõulumissa")
• Polaris ("Põhjanael")
• Veni Sancte Spiritus

External links

• Fennica Gehrman's Sisask page (publisher)