Music News

Ester Mägi 85: jubilee concert in Estonia Concert Hall

Ester Mägi, the First Lady of Estonian music, whose creative activity has lasted more than a half of a century, celebrates her 85th birthday on January 10. It seems like various historical eras of Estonian music meet each other in Mägi's music – Estonian folk song, earnest spirit of National Romanticism and modernist means of expression. On January 12, a jubilee concert will take place in Estonia Concert Hall with recognized Estonian choirs, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and soloists participating.

Ester Mägi graduated from Tallinn State Conservatoire as a student of Prof. Mart Saar in 1952 and continued with postgraduate studies in Moscow Conservatoire in 1951-1954 with Prof. Vissarion Shebalin. In 1954-1984, from 1977 as an associate Professor, she lectured music theory at Tallinn State Conservatoire. In 1999 she was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre.

One of the most considerable fields of Mägi’s oeuvre is her choral work – more than a hundred songs, ballad Chamber of the Wind (1981) and choral cycles Six Estonian Folk Songs (1974), Meditations (1978), Maidens’ Songs (1979) and Mother of Song (1983) among them. Choral works of Ester Mägi belong to the repertoire of dozens of Estonian choirs. Numerous artists have been enchanted by clear-cut form and subtle mode of Mägi’s solo songs and chamber works. The Symphony, one of her few orchestral opuses, also stands out as a remarkable work in Estonian music.

For a long-time creative activity, Ester Mägi has been awarded the Prize of the Soviet Estonia (1980), Annual Music Award of the ESSR (1985), Estonian Culture Award (1996), Lifetime Achievement Award of the Estonian National Culture Foundation (1999) and Annual Award of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia (2001) for her creative achievements.

Ester Mägi’s jubilee concert will take place on January 12 in Estonia Concert Hall. Beside Mägi’s choral works, the programme includes her Violin concerto in D minor (Serenade, 1958), Variations for piano, clarinet and string orchestra (1972) and Bucolic for symphony orchestra (1983). The programme will be performed by Estonian National Symphony Orchestra (conductor Tõnu Kaljuste), Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir (conductor Mikk Üleoja), Estonian National Male Choir RAM (conductor Mikhail Gerts), Mixed Choir of Estonia Society (conductor Heli Jürgenson), Tartu University Academic Female Choir (conductor Triin Koch), Alexandra Juozapenaite-Eesmaa (piano) and Arvo Leibur (violin). 

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