Heldur Harry Põlda

b. September 18, 1996, Kuressaare

Tenor Heldur Harry Põlda rose to fame as a brilliant boy soprano. He was awarded the Estonian Cultural Endowment Award for the role of Miles in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, which made him the youngest musician ever to receive the award. He began his violin studies at the Kuressaare Children’s Music School at the age of five under the guidance of Laine Sepp. His first singing teacher was Pilvi Karu. He continued at the Tallinn Music High School in the violin class of Prof. Mari Tampere-Bezrodny and in the conducting class of Hirvo Surva, his singing teacher was Zoja Hertz. In 2015, he entered the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he studied classical singing with Prof. David Pollard and Prof. Ruby Philogene, graduating in 2019.

Harry Harry Põlda was a longtime soloist of the Estonian National Opera Boys’ Choir. He made his first stage debut at the age of 8. As a boy treble, he has sung several opera and musical theatre roles, including Erik (Yeston’s Phantom), Amor (Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice, 2010), Miles (Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, 2008) and Arno (Anti Marguste’s mono opera Arno’s Monologues, 2011). He has sung soprano solos in large-scale choral works by Lera Auerbach’s Russian Requiem (in Germany – world premiere, Spain, Latvia, Estonia), Roxanna Paunufnik’s Westminster Mass, Galina Ustvolskaya’s Symphony No. 1 (in Spain and in the Czech Republic), Gabriel Faure’ Requiem, Aare Kruusimäe’s joint choir's song Discovering the World at the 25th Song Celebration at the Song Festival Ground in Tallinn (2009) and performed as a soprano soloist in numerous concerts and events, including the Saaremaa Opera Festival, NATO international conference in Tallinn, Finnish President Tarja Halonen’s state visit to Estonia, and the 60th anniversary of the Priestly Ordination of Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican (2011), where he sang Arvo Pärt’s „Vater Unser“ with Pärt himself accompanying.

Since 2019, Heldur Harry Põlda has been a scholar of Estonian National Opera. He made his professional stage debut as Tony in the musical West Side Story. Today, his repertoire includes roles in musical theatre works by Giuseppe Verdi, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Charles Gounod and Franz Lehár. As a chamber singer, he has appeared in various groups, including the Arsis Handbell Ensemble, Estonian singer and actress Hanna-Liina Võsa and his brother, violinist Johannes Põlda and pianist Lea Leiten.

In addition to singing, Heldur Harry Põlda has also performed as a conductor at an early age. He has conducted joint choirs, toddler’s choirs and string orchestra at local song festivals in Saaremaa, Children’s Galas at Saaremaa Opera Festival and Estonian National Opera Festival. He holds the post of conductor of the Academic Male Choir of Tallinn University of Technology since 2020 and singing teacher of the Drama School of Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre.

He has recorded three albums as a boy soprano with the Tallinn Sinfonietta (2012), the Orchestra of Estonian Defence Forces (2012), the Arsis Handbell Ensemble (ERP, 2010) and single Vater Unser (ERP, 2011).

Heldur Harry Põlda was awarded the Annual Prize of Estonian Cultural Endowment for Music for his role in Benjamin Britten’s opera The Turn of the Screw (2008), the Cooperation Prize of the Estonian Choral Union (2010), and has received the scholarship of the Georg Ots Foundation (2013).

Roles of Heldur Harry Põlda:
Ruiz – Giuseppe Verdi’s Il Torvatore (Estonian National Opera, 2021)
Armand Brissard – Franz Lehár’s The Count of Luxembourg (Estonian National Opera, 2020)
Ivan Lykov – Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar's Bride (Estonian National Opera, 2020)
Gaston – Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata (Estonian National Opera)
Tybalt – Charles Gounod’s Romeo and Juliette (Estonian National Opera, 2019)
Tony – Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story (Estonian National Opera, 2019)
Bastien – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Bastien und Bastienne (Tallinn Music High School, 2014)
Arno – Anti Marguste’s Arno’s Monologues (Nargenfestival, 2011)
Amor – Christpoh Willibald Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice (Birgitta Festival, 2010)
Miles – Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw (Birgitta Festival, 2008)
Nuki – Ehala/Raadik/Vinter/Raudmäe Pipi!Nuki!Puhh! (Estonian National Opera, 2007)
Erik – Maury Yeston’s Phantom (Smithbridge Productions, 2007)

© EMIC 2013
(updated in June 2021)

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