Hillar Kareva

December 8, 1931, Tallinn – June 17, 1992, Tallinn
Member of the Estonian Composers' Union since 1959

Composer and pedagogue Hillar Kareva started studying music with Herbert Laan and continued at the Tallinn Music School in 1944–1951. In 1956, he graduated from the Tallinn State Conservatory in composition with Eugen Kapp. He has worked as an inspector of the Government of Arts of the ESSR (1955–1956), taught music theory at Tallinn Music School (1962– 1967) and Tallinn State Conservatory (1966–1982). He played double-bass at ensembles Swing Club and Studio 8, founded by Uno Naissoo.

The Basic part of his compositions is formed by programmatic chamber music, which has been a part of many Estonian musicians repertoire. He has written solo pieces for instruments that have little solo repertoire. The proportion of his vocal works is rather small. He has been commissioned to write pieces for Estonian Competition for Interpreters: pieces like Cadence (1969) and Micro-Sonatine (1974) for solo violin, Impression (1970) for solo clarinet and others. His most popular works are his saxophone pieces, published by edition 49.
In 2003, Hillar Kareva Competition for saxophone and trumpet players was initiated at the Estonian Academy of Music.

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(Updated 2012, January)

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