Valdeko Loigu
b. August 1, 1911 Tartu – d. March 1, 1973 Lakewood, USAMember of the Estonian Actors’ Union since 1934
Member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers
Buried at Vana-Jaani cemetery (Tartu, Estonia)
Foreign Estonian composer and choir conductor Valdeko Loigu was an active figure in musical life, who kept the Estonian musical culture and traditions alive aborad, and the author of numerous choral and solo songs as well as piano and organ pieces.
Valdeko Loigu studied at Tartu Gymnasium (Tartu Poeglaste Reaalgümnaasium). In 1930, he started working at the Vanemuine Theatre as a choir singer, and from 1934 to 1944 he was an actor and an opera singer. At the same time, he studied singing in the class of Rudolf Jõks (1930–1939) and composition in the class of Eduard Tubin (1939–1944) at the Tartu Higher Music School.
In 1944, Loigu fled to Germany. From 1945 to 1948, he managed to study composition and conducting at the Stuttgart Academy of Music (Staatlichen Hochschule für Musik Stuttgart) with prof. Philipp Mohler. He conducted choirs in Geislingen and Schwetzingen and was one of the organizers of the Estonian Music Week in Geislingen in 1948.
In 1950, Valdeko Loigu moved to the USA, where he lived first in Michigan, later in Cleveland and since 1957 in Lakewood. He founded and conducted choirs, organized concerts and was an active figure in music life. He was the initiator, organizer and general manager of the song festival of refugee choirs – Estonian Song Day on the East Coast of the USA (1963, 1965).
Valdeko Loigu has composed mainly choral and solo songs based on texts by Estonian poets, as well as piano and organ pieces. His song "Our Good American Home" for mixed choir and piano was awarded the George Washington Honor Medal in 1960. His largest work, cantata "Mõõk varastatakse" ("The Loss of the Sword") based on epic Kalevipoeg, was performed in 1946 in Geislingen.
Valdeko Loigu’s choral songs have been published in the collections "Harmoonilised koorilaulud I–IV" ("Harmonical choral songs I–IV", 1947–1966).
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