On April 25, the premiere of new string quartet “Thule Patterns” by Tõnu Kõrvits will take place in New Riga Theatre (Jaunais Rigas Teatris). It will be performed by Tobias String Quartet, to whom the piece is also dedicated. Concert in Riga is organised by Association of Estonian Professional Musicians. Estonian audience can listen „Thule Patterns” on April 26 in Estonia Concert Hall.
Tõnu Kõrvits has written quite a few pieces about Thule – the mystic and mysterious Northern land. “Elegies of Thule” was premiered by Vanemuine Symphony Orchestra (conductor Toomas Vavilov) at the concert dedicated to the 89th Anniversary of the Republic of Estonia, “Pictures of Thule” was performed last year by Marko Martin at the Fifth International Piano Festival „Klaver” (“Piano”). “The Songs from Thule” for flute and piano was written in 2002, “The Songs from Thule II: Northern Light” for trumpet and piano in 2004. Estonian nature and people is the common line in these pieces.
Tobias String Quartet both concerts present also Estonian composer Jaan Rääts’s Concerto for Chamber Orchestra op. 16, arrangement for string quartet is made by cellist Aare Tammesalu. The Concerto is one of the most often performed pieces in Estonian music which had its premier in 1961, conducted by Neeme Järvi. Concert program also includes Giuseppe Verdi’s String Quartet – the only large-scale instrumental piece of the great opera composer, written in 1873.
Tobias String Quartet founded in 2000 consists of Maano Männi (violin), Kristjan Hallik (violin), Toomas Nestor (viola) ja Aare Tammesalu (cello). The name of the quartet is a tribute to Estonian composer Rudolf Tobias who wrote the first Estonian string quartet.