"It's like a growing consciousness," he said.

Maimets' family immigrated to Canada during the Second World War's Soviet occupation. In the 1980s, Estonians began to rebel, using music in what became known as the Singing Revolution when crowds would gather to sing banned hymns and nationalistic songs. The country eventually regained its independence without bloodshed, just a lot of music.

Maimets continues with the musical tradition of his homeland, though there was one little wobble.

"I went to Queen's (University) to study economics," he said. "I thought I could write music on the side. I thought I needed a steady job and that music would be my hobby."

But a visiting teacher from the Estonian Academy of Music stayed with his family in Toronto and that changed everything. The teacher got to know the young man then offered him an opportunity to study at her academy.

"I lived and breathed music," he said, remembering the excitement of being able to study music instead of economics. "I was only 18 years old."

With his parents' blessing, Maimets completed his music degree in Estonia, a country he had visited many times in the past and where his ancestral roots still run deeply. He remembers growing up how his mother wanted each of her three children to study a portable instrument plus the piano and, though they were not restricted to any particular genre, Maimets was drawn to classical.

"I didn't listen to pop, not even jazz," he said. "I really can't remember the first piece I composed. I remember in violin lessons, asking a lot about the composer's lives. I got a very encyclopedic knowledge of composers. I wrote some piano pieces that I then performed."

His musical scores were occasionally played in high school, though it was in university that he became serious about composing.

Maimets completed a master's degree in composition at the University of Toronto, and while there, he was encouraged to apply for the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

"I was absolutely shocked I got in," he said. "The acceptance rate is really low. They had responded to some music I had sent them."

Studying in Toronto then Philadelphia allowed Maimets to see what was going on musically in North America before he returned to Estonia, where he plans to stay.

"Estonia is what I need; it's a very simple existence here," he said. "I walk everywhere, everybody says 'how are you?' "

With his work about to make its Canadian debut, Maimets is happy.

"I am really exceedingly pleased," he said. "I feel this is my first, this is my Opus 1."

Maimets' score will be performed in a Signatures series concert entitled "Appalachian Spring" featuring American violinist Tai Murray.

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