Elis Hallik (b. 1986) started her composition studies in the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in 2008 with Helena Tulve and obtained a Master’s Degree there in 2015 under the tutelage of Helena Tulve and Toivo Tulev. During 2012–2013, she improved her skills at the National Conservatory of Lyon (Conservatoire National Supérieur Musique et Danse de Lyon) as a student of Michele Tadini and Robert Pascal. She has participated in several master classes with teachers like Fabio Cifariello Ciardi, Luca Francesconi, Michelangelo Lupone, Yann Robin, Bernhard Gander, Tapio Tuomela, Jean Geoffroy, Ferdinando Nazzaro, Andrea Di Paolo and Klaus Lang. Hallik also has a Bachelor’s Degree in Estonian philology from Tallinn University, where her additional speciality was audiovisual composition.
Elis Hallik: “I value everything that influences our ability to consciously embrace the present moment and keenly observe that which surrounds us – the various facets of silence and noise as well as microscopic events in sounds and the musical process because, paradoxically, it seems that the more the composition process is tied to the music itself and to musical reality, the more it allows the music to mirror its existence and patterns through moments of insight.”
Elis Hallik’s works have been in the programmes of IRCAM’s Manifeste Festival, the International Summer Academy (ISA) festival of the mdw, the International Contemporary Music Festival Afekt, the Estonian Music Days Festival and the Autumn Festival of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. Her orchestral works have been performed by L’Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France (conductor Pierre-André Valade), the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra (conductor Baldur Brönnimann), the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra (conductor Atvars Lakstīgala), Sinfonietta Rīga (Erki Pehk) and the Symphony Orchestra of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (conductor Toomas Vavilov).
In 2014, her piece “Impacts” for cello and double bass achieved the first prize at the International Summer Academy (ISA) of the mdw (University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna) that brought along the new commission – “To Become a Tree”, which premiered in 2016 at ISA of the mdw in Arnold Schönberg Centre, Vienna. In 2017, Hallik represented Estonia at the International Rostrum of Composers in Palermo with the piece “To Become a Tree” that was chosen among 10 recommended works by rostrum jury. In 2017, Elis Hallik was selected to be among ten composers whose new orchestral piece (“Fluchtpunkt”) was played by L’Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France under the baton of Pierre-André Valade at the IRCAM’s Manifeste Festival.