Kaia Urb

 

Kaia Urb (soprano) is one of the most acclaimed oratorio singers in Estonia and abroad. She graduated from the Tallinn State Conservatoire and continued her studies with Lilian Gentele in Stockholm. Since 1982 Kaia Urb has been a member of the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir. She has sung solo parts in various oratorios of the choir’s repertoire and has taken part in many concert tours and recordings.

Kaia Urb has worked with many renowned conductors such as Tõnu Kaljuste, Neeme Järvi, Paul Mägi, Paul Hillier, Olari Elts, Juha Kangas, Saulius Sondeckis and others, and various ensembles and orchestras such as The Hilliard Ensemble, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Tallinn Baroque Orchestra, Estonian early music ensemble Hortus Musicus, Estonian contemporary music ensemble NYYD Ensemble, Chamber Orchestras of Lithuania, Prague, Australia etc.

Kaia Urb’s repertoire ranges from baroque music to new works by contemporary composers: all of J. S. Bach’s oratorios and many cantatas, Handel’s „Messiah�, „Judas Maccabeus� and „Dixit Dominus�, Purcell’s „Dido and Aeneas�, Monteverdi’s „Vespro della Beata Virgine�, Respighi’s „Lauda per la natività del Signore�, Vivaldi’s „Gloria�, Haydn’s „Creation� and masses, Mozart’s Requiem, „Vesperae solennes de Confessore�, „Litaniae Lauretanae� and masses, Mendelssohn’s „Elijah�, Fauré’s Requiem, Poulenc’s „Gloria�, Reich´s „Tehillim� and „Proverb�, Pärt’s „Passio�, „Miserere�, „Te Deum�, Berio’s „Sequenza III� etc.

Kaia Urb is also an excellent chamber musician and has held concerts with the ensemble Camerata Tallinn and guitarist Heiki Mätlik. She has performed music by many Estonian composers such as Mägi, Sink, Tamberg, Tormis and Tulev, has recorded several CDs and has been a regular guest at many Estonian music festivals such as Haapsalu Early Music Festival and David Oistrach Festival.

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