What is Veljo Tormis?
[[File:Veljo Tormis.jpg|thumb|Veljo Tormis in 2004.]] '''Veljo Tormis''' (7 August 1930 in [[Kuusalu]] - 21 January 2017) was an [[Estonia]]n [[composer]]. He was called as one of the greatest living choral composers<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://bachfest.uoregon.edu/bachground/pressroom/2002/pr_fc_wagingpeace.shtml |title=Veljo Tormis at Oregon Bach Festival |access-date=2017-01-22 |archive-date=2006-09-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060902091402/http://bachfest.uoregon.edu/bachground/pressroom/2002/pr_fc_wagingpeace.shtml |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.pacificyouthchoir.org/calendar.php |title=Veljo Tormis at the Pacific Youth Choir |access-date=2017-01-22 |archive-date=2007-09-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928135636/http://www.pacificyouthchoir.org/calendar.php |url-status=dead }}</ref> and one of the most important composers of the 20th century in Estonia.<ref name=Daitz>Daitz, Mimi. Ancient Song Recovered: The Life and Music of Veljo Tormis. Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2004. {{ISBN|1-57647-009-1}}. :The first and only major writing on Tormis in English {{As of|2006|lc=on}}. Includes discussion of many of Tormis’s compositions, Estonian history, and regilaul (the Baltic-Finnic runic song upon which much of Tormis’s music is based), translations of several important articles and interviews, analysis of several representative major choral works, and copious biographical information. Also includes a glossary, annotated discography, bibliography, a complete alphabetized list of works (found nowhere else in English), and a CD with several pertinent musical examples. </ref> Internationally, he is known from his extensive body of choral music, which passes 500 individual [[choral]] songs, most of it [[a cappella]]. The great majority of these pieces are based on traditional ancient Estonian [[folksong]]s (''regilaulud''), either textually, melodically, or merely stylistically. ==References== {{reflist}} ==Other websites== {{Commons category}} * [http://