Liis Jürgens (b. 1983) is a freelance composer, harpist, and improviser. Her artistic interests are centered on the perception of connections between visuality and music, often employing experimental animation as a creative medium. In her recent compositional work, she explores the interplay and tensions between visual elements, aleatoricism (chance-based combinations), and body-centered, subconsciously trained improvisation.
Significant recent commissions and performances of Jürgens’ work include collaborations with the Vanemuine Symphony Orchestra and Paul Mägi, the ensemble Una Corda, the Nynorsk Brass Quintet, the Baltic Sea Philharmonic, the Nordic Pulse Orchestra and Kristjan Järvi, the Estonian Saxophone Orchestra, violinists Hans-Christian Aavik and Triinu Piirsalu, and piano duos Maila Laidna – Tiiu Sisask and Kai and Ralf Taal.
Liis Jürgens began her piano studies at age six, followed by harp and composition studies at age eleven at the Tallinn Music High School. She later studied harp, composition, and improvisation at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre and the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (MDW). Additionally, she has furthered her skills in animation at the Estonian Academy of Arts. As a harpist, she has performed numerous solo and chamber concerts, commissioning and arranging music by Estonian composers for the harp. She has played with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra (ERSO) and various orchestras both in Estonia and abroad. As a member of the ensemble Una Corda, she has released two CDs: Una Corda and Voolujoon (Streamline). Jürgens can also be heard improvising on the album Atlas of the Heavens by the ensemble Three Free Radicals.