Urmas Sisask

Urmas Sisask was an Estonian composer.

Biography

Sisask was born in Rapla on 9 September 1960. One of the major inspirations for his music was astronomy. Based on the trajectories of the planets in the Solar System, he created the "planetal scale", a mode consisting of the pitches C#, D, F#, G#, and A. Later, he discovered to his surprise that this was exactly the same as the [Japanese mode|Japanese Kumajoshi mode], which is also known as the Japanese pentatonic scale.
Sisask was a Roman Catholic, and much of what he composed was sacred music. His younger sister is singer and actress Siiri Sisask.
Sisask died on 17 December 2022, at the age of 62.