Maarja Nuut, Shards ja Nicolas Stocker

Maarja Nuut (composer, vocal, violin, electronics) 
Shards (vocal ensemble, UK)  
Kieran Brunt, Lucy Cronin, Sarah Latto, Bethany Horak-Hallett, Kate Huggett, Chris Huggon, Jack Lawrence-Jones, Rose Martin, Augustus Perkins Ray, Oli Martin-Smith, Josephine Stephenson, Héloïse Werner 
Nicolas Stocker (percussion) 

Programme:  
Maarja Nuut. Song cycle "Liivast juukseid kammides" (Combing Hair from Sand) 

Maarja Nuut presents "Liivast juukseid kammides" ("Combing Hair into Sand"), a large-scale song cycle scored for vocal ensemble, percussion, violin and electronics. Deeply personal, the piece unfolds through fragmented inner landscapes shaped by memory and shifting states of perception. At its core is a poetic narrative woven from the writings of Eha Lättemäe, alongside texts by Estonian poets and writers spanning multiple generations. The work is performed in collaboration with the acclaimed British vocal ensemble Shards and Swiss percussionist Nicolas Stocker.

"Combing Hair into Sand" is a performance where voice, electronics and poetry move between fragile intimacy and unsettling intensity, guiding the listener through internal spaces whose meanings reveal themselves gradually. Combining contemporary vocal music, experimental electronics and extended instrumental textures, the piece inhabits a realm where sound, language and silence continuously dissolve into one another, while transformed field recordings drift through the texture like dislocated memories and temporal distortions.

The maturation of this piece has been a long process — a movement inward, before gradually turning back towards the world around me,” recalls Nuut. “I began writing the material in 2022, at a time when the world was shaken by turbulent events and I found myself in a kind of vacuum. Existence felt fragmented and disjointed. I was searching for some kind of thread, but for a long time it felt as though my tongue had been cut out. Where do you direct your attention when everything is too much? How do you exist? How much should one feel? At some point I discovered the texts of Eha Lättemäe, and a door opened for me into a very particular world — a world that is still in the process of creating itself.

Maarja Nuut’s distinctive sonic language merges archaic resonances, contemporary electronics and minimalist composition into a hypnotic, deeply textured and singular whole. Her work has been presented on renowned stages internationally, establishing her as one of the most original voices in contemporary Estonian music. "Combing Hair into Sand" marks a new chapter in her artistic practice — a fragile, experimental and highly sensitive exploration at the threshold of poetry, voice and sonic textures.

Shards is a twelve-voice collective known for its genre-expanding repertoire and remarkably nuanced sound. The ensemble’s members are active across contemporary music, improvisation and experimental vocal practice, and have collaborated with numerous acclaimed composers and festivals throughout Europe.

Nicolas Stocker is a Swiss drummer, improviser and composer whose work moves fluidly between jazz, minimalism, electronics and experimental contemporary music. His playing is characterised by hypnotic polyrhythms and a highly spatial approach to sound, treating percussion as a complete sonic world. Stocker is best known as a member of Nik Bärtsch’s Mobile and KALI Trio, and has collaborated with artists such as Areni Agbabian and Ricardo Villalobos.

The concert at the KUMU Auditorium is held in collaboration with the Jazzkaar Festival.