Rein Rannap (Estonia, piano)

Estonian pianist and composer Rein Rannap has born in Tallinn, Estonia, in the family of professional musicians. Already as a child he demonstrated his extraordinary musical talent beginning to play piano – and also improvise – as well as compose long before the school age. Rannap started his musical upbringing as a classical pianist, studying first in Tallinn – at the Musical High School and Conservatory, and then at the Moscow Conservatory (Master’s degree; studied with Lev Naumov). As a composer, he remained, for a while, an autodidact; later he acquired Master’s and doctoral degrees in musical composition from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Both as a composer and pianist, Rannap has always been notorious for his ability to mix different genres. His post-modernist works in classical idiom are a genuine cross-over, noticeably influenced by popular music. Although his music is very fascinating to the wider audience, it is often in disagreement with the academic circles. Rannap has composed all kind of music: symphonic, band, chamber, choral, for film and theater etc.; but more than anything else has he written popular songs, and – of course for the piano. His works, and frequently also his performances, have been recorded on many CDs, DVDs and LPs.

In Soviet Union, 2 LP-s with his improvisations were released (1982 and 1985), in addition to LP-s with his songs, including those with rock group Ruja.

Rannap has performed in most of European countries, North America, Australia and China.

During the years 1979-1986 he frequently performed in bigger concerts halls in Moscow, and St. Peterburg; often had a concert tours in countries of former Soviet Union, and performed on jazz festivals in Soviet Union and other countries. Soviet Central television station (Centralnoje Televidenje) frequently transmitted his performances all over the Soviet Union.

He has performed and recorded as a soloist with BBC Orchestra (conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky) and with National Arts Centre Orchestra, Ottawa, Canada  (conductor Neeme Järvi), has performed in Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory, Festival Hall in London, at EXPO World Exhibitions: in Lisbon, Portugal (1998) and Hannover, Germany (2000). In Germany he also has performed often in Berlin, and at festivals: Usedom and Schleswig-Holstein Music Festivals. During this highly successful tour in China, in November 2014, Rannap gave solo recitals in Beijing, Jinan, Shanghai and Guangzhou – in Xinghai Concert Hall.

His emphasis was earlier mostly on songwriting and performing classical music. Now is his center of gravity on composing - less or more - serious music. And as a pianist, he commits now only to performing his own works and his improvisational arrangements of well known melodies, mostly of classical origin: recent piano pieces from the album Idyll (2013), and well reworked classical super hits (like Für Elise, Turkish March, Swan, Bolero etc) from his new, yet to be released album Selfies with Classics.

In his homeland Estonia, there literally isn’t anybody, who wouldn’t know Rannap. In addition to being acknowledged as a piano player, Rannap is glorious as a leader of, and songwriter for the most popular rock group ever in Estonia - Ruja; likewise as a longtime jury member of the Estonian version of internationally known TV contest formats: Pop Idol or X Factor. Many of his popular and rock songs have become evergreens, and are still actively performed by the young artists, and also, for example, regularly by huge choirs (consisting up to 40 000 singers) at Estonian Songfests.