The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir tours in the USA from 26 February to 2 March, giving five concerts under the conductor Tõnu Kaljuste.
On February 26, two concerts will be performed together with the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra at the National Conference of the American Choral Directors Association in Salt Lake City. The programme includes Arvo Pärt’s Adam’s Lament, Brett Dean’s Carlo and Lepo Sumera’s Concerto per voci e strumenti (III part). The following three a cappella concerts organized by Opus 3 Artists will be given on February 27 in Denver, February 28 in Beaver Creek and in March 2, in Washington, the latter in frames of Serenade! International Choral Series, presented by Classical Movements.
A cappella program is compiled to celebrate the jubilees of two great Estonian composers, Arvo Pärt 80 and Veljo Tormis 85. EPCC and the conductor Tõnu Kaljuste have a very close relationship with both of these composers and their music. In addition, Jean Sibelius’ Rakastava (Beloved) is included in the programm to mark the 150th anniversary of this world famous Finnish composer.
The output of Veljo Tormis is based on an extensive use of folk materials of Estonians and other Finnic people and EPCC has been singing his music in many countries with great success. As to Arvo Pärt, Tõnu Kaljuste has a direct link to this great composer and a deep understanding of his work, which gives EPCC a privilege and fortune to be very close with this composer, interpret his music, and to be often the first performer of many of his new works (Kanon Pokajanen, Adam’s Lament etc). The choir under Tõnu Kaljuste have recorded several CD’s with Pärt’s music and have won awards including two GRAMMYs.