In December, Estonian National Male Choir under the guidence of its chief conductor Ants Soots will give 5 Christmas concerts at several concert venues in Estonia. Estonian National Male Choir features mezzo soprano Helen Lokuta, Piret Aidulo (organ) and Kristi Keel (English horn). Besides the music by Giovanni Gabrieli, Edward Elgar, Johann Sebastian Bach, Jukka Linkola and others, the program also includes works by Estonian composers – Ester Mägi’s „Christmas Song“, Urmas Sisask’s „Christmas Prayer“, Eduard Tubin’s „Ave Maria“ and Kuldar Sink’s „The Lord’s Prayer“.
Christmas concerts will take place on December at 7 pm at Jõhvi St. Michael’s Church, December 20 at 4 pm at Tallinn St. Nicholas’s Church, December 21 at 6 pm Tallinn St. John’s Church, December 22 at 7 pm at Tartu St. John’s Church and December 23 at 7 pm Pärnu Elizabeth Church.
 Estonian National Male Choir Photo: Kaupo Kikkas |
The Estonian National Male Choir is currently the largest full-time professional male choir in the world. |
Founded in 1944 by the legendary composer and leader of the Estonian choral movement, Gustav Ernesaks, the choir has since been conducted by Olev Oja, Kuno Areng, Ants Üleoja, Ants Soots and Kaspars Putninsh (Latvia). Since 2008, the artistic director is Ants Soots.
Over its 60 years of existence, Estonian National Male Choir has performed more than 6000 concerts all across Estonia, the former Soviet Union, many Western European countries, Israel, Canada and the United States. Besides the a cappella choral music, the repertoire also includes over 30 large-scale vocal music with orchestra. The choir has worked together with such guest conductors like Lev Sivuhhin, Robert Sund, Josep Prats, Roman Toi, Chifuru Matsubara, Kaspars Putninsh, Anatoly Grindenko, Lone Larsen, Timothy Brown, Vytautas Mishkinis, Toomas Siitan, Jaan-Eik Tulve, Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi, Kristjan Järvi, Eri Klas, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, Riccardo Muti, Paavo Berglund, Leif Segerstam, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Saulius Sondeckis, Leo Krämer, Christoph Spering, Gintaras Rinkevičius, Arvo Volmer, Andres Mustonen, Paul Mägi, Jüri Alperten, Vello Pähn, Tõnu Kaljuste, Nikolai Aleksejev and many others.
Over the last 5 years, Estonian National Male Choir has recorded 12 CD-s for Deutsche Grammophon, Sony, Virgin, Finlandia, CCn’C, Forte, Alba and other record labels. In 2004, Estonian National Male Choir together with girls’ choir Ellerhein and Estonian National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paavo Järvi, won a Grammy Award in the category of „Best Choral Performance” for their recording of Sibelius’s Cantatas (Virgin Classics, 2003). A year later their recording of Edvard Grieg’s “Peer Gynt” (recorded by the same line-up) was voted the orchestral album of the year in BBC Music Magazine.
Agnes Toomla