Records available
CD canto:). Hortus Musicus
DVD In the Mystical Land of Kaydara. Peeter Vähi
DVD Coppélia. A ballet by Léo Delibes
CD-series Great Maestros. Beethoven, Brahms. Kalle Randalu, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Järvi
CD Quarter of a Century with Friends. Arsis, Rémi Boucher, Oliver Kuusik, Rauno Elp
Super Audio CD Maria Magdalena. Sevara Nazarkhan, Riga Dom Cathedral Boys Choir, State Choir Latvija, Latvian National Symphony Orchestra
LP Contra aut pro? Toomas Velmet, Neeme Järvi, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Arvo Pärt
GLASPERLENSPIEL MUSIC FESTIVAL 2018
July 12th - 17th, Tartu
A joint project of ERP and the city of Tartu. The festival Glasperlenspiel (‘The Glass Bead Game’) directed by Peeter Vähi has got its inspiration from the novel by Hermann Hesse. It is certainly a very special musical event in Estonian summer where music lovers can enjoy performers like Australian Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Süd-West Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra, Tōkyō Philharmonic Chorus, Quintet of Berliner Philharmoniker, Gidon Kremer, Vadim Repin, Piotr Anderszewski, Olli Mustonen, Kristjan Järvi, Paavo Järvi, Christoph Eschenbach, etc, as well as the leading musicians of Estonia.
Glasperlenspiel presents:
● Sun, March 25th, 2018 at 5 pm in Kaarli kirik (Charles’ Church), address Toompuiestee 4, Tallinn
Palm Sunday Concert: Johann Sebastian Bach − ST JOHN PASSION, BWV 245
Mati Turi (Evangelist, tenor), Jaanika Kuusik (soprano), Iris Oja (mezzo-soprano), Tõnis Kaumann (baritone), Alvar Tiisler (bass), Tallinn Boys Choir (chorus master Lydia Rahula), Voces Musicales, All-Estonian Choral Choir, Glasperlenspiel Sinfonietta, conductor Andres Mustonen
Bach composed his St John passion during his second year in Leipzig, in 1724. As the freshly appointed cantor of the St Thomas church and therefore also the music director for the four churches of Leipzig, Bach probably felt the need to prove himself in this new situation. After all, he was far from first choice for the position − one official of the city council even remarked that, in lieu of the best man, they would have to make do with a mediocrity. With the St John passion, Bach was surely able to surpass these doubts, as the piece was the most extensive he had written so far.
It is known from his obituary that Bach wrote five settings of the passion story, but the only surviving ones today are the St John’s and St Matthew’s. Perhaps this is the reason why these two masterpieces are constantly compared to each other. Robert Schumann, who conducted the St John passion in 1851, considered it “more daring, forceful and poetic” than the St Matthew passion. The St John passion is also often described as more realistic, faster paced and more anguished. Bach never composed an opera, but this is about as close as he came.
St John passion is written for an intimate ensemble of soloists, four-part choir, strings and basso continuo and pairs of flauti traversi and oboes. For additional colours, Bach also used lute, viola d’amore and viola da gamba. The author of the libretto is unknown, although it is likely that it was Bach himself. The core of the libretto is made up by chapters 18 and 19 of the Gospel of John, with some additional paragraphs from the Gospel of Matthew and settings of poems by Barthold Heinrich Brockes, Christian Weise and Christian Heinrich Postel. The St John passion was first performed on Good Friday, April 7 in 1724 at the St Nicholas church in Leipzig.
Bach repeatedly returned to the piece, revising it three times: in 1725, 1732 and 1749. This clearly shows how much value Bach placed on the work. Nowadays, the original work of 1724 is the most often performed version.
Bach. St John Passion, fragment; performed by Tallinn Boys Choir, Voces Musicales, Glasperlenspiel Sinfonietta, and conductor Andres Mustonen; recorded live 2018 in Tallinn; 3 min 35 sec, mp3, 320 Kbps
Next performance of St John Passion in Tallinn − April 14th, 2019, Charles’ church.
Programme in St John’s church, Tartu
● Thu, July 12th at 7 pm, St John’s church (address Jaani Str 5, Tartu)
CLASSIC PUNK
Nadezhda Tokareva (violin, Slovenia), Kristjan Kannukene (viola), Mikhail Dzudze (bass balalaika, Russia), Glasperlenspiel Sinfonietta, conductor Andres Mustonen
Boccherini, Schnittke, Kannukene (première), Vähi
Russian-Slovenian violinist Nadezhda Tokareva is one of the most talented and brilliant violinists of her generation. Nadezhda studied with professor Eduard Grach of the Moscow State Conservatory.
Nadezhda became a laureate of a number of International violin competitions, including first prize at II Yampolsky competition (1999), special prize at the XII Tchaikovsky competition (Moscow, 2002) and second prize at the I Paganini competition (Moscow, 2003). She has performed in the principal Moscow concert halls, including the Great and Small Halls of the Moscow Conservatory, the Tchaikovsky Hall, and the Svetlanov and Chamber Halls of the International House of Music. Her concert schedule includes venues in more than 30 countries including the United States, countries of Western and Eastern Europe, Israel, Turkey, China and Japan. Throughout her professional career, she has performed with numerous famous Russian and foreign symphonic and chamber orchestras and has toured twice as soloist and concertmaster with the Moscow State Radio Symphony orchestra in the United States in 2004 and 2010.
Nadezhda Tokareva is the author of a number of violin transcriptions and arrangements and she is the first violinist in Russia to publicly perform the “Russian Concerto” by Èdouard Lalo and the world premier in France of the 2nd Sonata for Violin and Piano by Valery Arzoumanov (dedicated to her) and several other works.
Since 2011 Nadezhda Tokareva has lived and worked in Slovenia where she is successfully continuing her concert and teaching activities. She performs in the best halls of Slovenia, makes a lot of recordings on the State Radio of Slovenia and gives master classes. Nadezhda is the author of many violin premiers and the first performer of Slovenian authors’ works.
She plays on a Nicolò Gagliano violin made ca 1765.
Though known mostly as a vocalist, viola-player Kristjan Kannukene started his musical journey at the Keila Music School, learning to play the violin and the viola. Today, he is a student at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, where he studies composition with Toivo Tulev and the viola with Toomas Nestor. Kristjan also plays the electric guitar. In 2017, he was awarded the 1st prize in the string category at the international competition “Kaunas Sonorum″.
Kristjan is often performing the music of the rock band Ruja. The founding member and composer of the band Rein Rannap finds that his music suits the young vocalist extremely well. Kristjan finds his inspiration from jazz, art and nature.
Glasperlenspiel Sinfonietta’s unique artistic style encompasses not only the masterworks of the classical repertoire, but innovative cross-art form projects and a vigorous commissioning program. The orchestra’s repertoire spanning over centuries, entwines old music with new, from Bach to Piazzolla, from Pärt to Vähi.
Glasperlenspiel Sinfonietta introduces to the listeners the music from the past as a live, breathing, joyful organism and proves that every type of music could bring freshness to the mind, warm the soul and give energy. It is only up to thinking and attitude. The resulting sense of energy and individuality is one of the most commented-upon elements of Glasperlenspiel Sinfonietta concert experience.
During the last years Glasperlenspiel Sinfonietta performed in Switzerland and Austria, in Italy and Finland, in Germany and Belgium, in Brazil and Chile, in Argentina and Uruguay and also took part at international music festivals like Ars Musica in Brussels, Festival Pianistico Internazionale di Brescia e Bergamo, Mittelfest and Emilia Romagna in Italy, Oleg Kagan International Music Festival in Kreuth am Tegernsee in Germany, Saint Petersburg Easter Festival in Russia, Iitti Music Festival in Finland, Riga Music Festival Artissimo in Latvia.
Glasperlenspiel Sinfonietta has played on many prestigious stages in Europe, Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Grand Hall of Saint Petersburg Philharmonia in Russia, Cologne Philharmonic Hall among them, getting high acclaim for each concert.
Andres Mustonen is one of the most unique conductors and violinists in Estonia. His activity as a conductor follows the timeline of music history from early to contemporary music, with emphasis on performing oratorios, passions, dramas and symphonic music. A special place in his repertoire is held by the works of contemporary composers, with whom he has formed a tight creative bond: Sofia Gubaidulina, Krzysztof Penderecki, Giya Kancheli, Valentin Silvestrov, Aleksandr Knaifel, Erkki Sven Tüür, Arvo Pärt, Awet Terterjan, Peeter Vähi etc.
Andres Mustonen graduated from Tallinn Conservatory in 1977, but his career as a musician has been all but conventional and academic. During his years of study, he was a fanatic performer of avant garde music and the organiser of happenings. In the 1970s he turned his interest towards the sources of European Christian tradition that resulted in a long-term work as the artistic director of the ensemble Hortus Musicus. In addition, Mustonen likes to perform chamber music with his friends and kindred spirits. In recent years, he has performed also with the ensemble Art Jazz Quartet. Concerts have taken him from Italy to Israel, Finland to Serbia and Russia to Germany. Since 2012, he is the artistic director and chief conductor of Glasperlenspiel Sinfonietta. His respect towards orchestral work and musicians is well summarised by himself: “For me, an orchestra is not a static form, but a living union consisting of musicians who complement and influence each other.”
● Fri, July 13th at 12.15 pm
MIDDAY CONCERT (free entrance)
THE HANSEATIC WAY. A Musical Journey Through a Shared Past
Canto Fiorito (Lithuania) & Musica Antiqua Salzburg (Austria), artistic leader Rodrigo Calveira
Byrd, Tallis, Orlando di Lasso, Praetorius, Schütz, Meder
The title of Vilnius based early music ensemble Canto Fiorito refers to florid singing, enriched with ornaments and diminutions and speaks about the dialogue between human voices and singing wind instruments, creating a wide palette of colours and expressive means that serve to the semantics of music.
Canto Fiorito started its activity in December of 2012 when early music professionals from various countries gathered in Vilnius to play the concert of Giovanni Battista Cocciola music, composed in this city in the 17th century. This musical experience inspired the formation of the team, passionate to continue making music together and building the grounds of historically informed performance in Lithuania. Consisting of five Lithuanian singers and instrumentalists from Brazil, Argentina, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Norway, Spain, United Kingdom, Poland, Lithuania and other countries, the ensemble is dedicated to the research and performance of medieval, renaissance and baroque music, with a special attention to the early music heritage related to the history of Lithuania.
The ensemble is also dedicated to early music education in Lithuania, organizing commented educational concerts, lectures, seminars, master courses for pupils, students and teachers of music, professionals and amateurs players as well as all interested public. Canto Fiorito has implemented residency projects in small village of Paparciai, actively involving communities of the region into early music activities.
Musica Antiqua Salzburg is an instrumental ensemble that focuses on the performance of early music on period instruments.
It creates a professional platform in Salzburg for internationally performing artists who have made themselves known though successful collaborations with well-known conductors and orchestras or as soloists on the concert podiums of the world.
It focuses on instrumental consort music of the early Baroque with sackbuts and cornets, supported by basso continuo in various settings, but also on larger instrumentations with winds and strings. Another main emphasis is the large repertoire of vocal music of these periods, which reaches from solo- up to large choral works.
The ensemble’s main emphasis is on Salzburg's rich history and musical diversity: the baroque Salzburg with composers such Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Paul Hofhaimer, Johann Stadlmayr or Georg Muffat.
On the other hand, it is dedicated to the diversity of Italian and German baroque music, as well as baroque music from various other European countries.
Since its foundation in 2010, Musica Antiqua Salzburg looks back on several successful projects and engagements, such as the festival opening ceremony of the Salzburg Festival, Musik Sommer Millstatt, Kirchenkonzert-Reihe in St. Leonhard, Original Klang Freistadt, or Alte Musik im Schloss Linz.
Rodrigo Calveyra played the flute, the oboe, the violin and the piano as a part of his primary musical education. Already at a young age he won numerous international recorder competitions in Brazil.
Rodrigo Calveyra played as a soloist with orchestras in Brazil, Switzerland, Italy and Argentina and worked with conductors such as Pablo Herreras Casado, Alessandro di Marchi, Martin Gester, Benoit Haller, Thomas Hengelbrock, etc. He played in the most prestigious early music festivals in Europe and South America, like Ambronay, Antwerp, Utrecht, Herne, Munich, Chaise Dieu, Wallonie, and in the most important concerts halls in Europe like Champs Elysés, Opéra Comique, Opera Garnier, Chatelet in Paris, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Arsenal in Metz, Chateau in Versailles, Bozar in Brussels, etc.
He is a regular member of the Ensemble Cappella Mediterranea, directed by Leonardo Garcia Alarcon, the current early music ensemble of the Opéra Garnier in Paris. Calveyra has given numerous early music mastercourses and has worked as a recorder, cornetto and chamber music teacher. He also gives lectures about early music performance in Brazil, Argentina, France and Lithuania.
● Fri, July 13th at 7 pm
CARMINA BURANA
Ensemble Hortus Musicus, artistic director Andres Mustonen
“Carmina Burana″ or “Songs of Beuern″ is a large manuscript from the 13th century that contains 254 poems and texts, mostly in Latin. Most of the texts are satirical and bawdy, but there are also moral songs, love songs, drinking songs and mocking songs. Using 24 poems, but not the original music from the manuscript, Carl Orff composed his famous cantata in 1936 that nowadays has become an often-performed piece of classical music repertoire. Hortus Musicus will perform the original songs from the manuscript.
Early music consort Hortus Musicus was founded by its artistic director and conductor Andres Mustonen in 1972, thus making it the oldest continuously working ensemble in its field in Eastern Europe and one of the few of such longevity in the world. Since the founding of the ensemble, Hortus Musicus has been performing constantly on world’s concert stages and at different music festivals, such as Utrecht Festival, the Malmö Baroque, the Mozart-Fest in Chemnitz, the Jaffa Festival and Abu Gosh Festival in Israel, the Lufthansa Baroque Festival in London, the Scottish Early Music Festival in Glasgow, the Lockenhaus Festival in Austria, the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, Bratislava Music Festival, Klara Festival in Belgium, David Oistrakh Festival, Tallinn International Organ Festival, Rapla Church Music Festival, Festival Trialogos, the Glasperlenspiel Festival and others. Hortus Musicus has given concerts in the USA, South America, most of European countries, Israel, Russia and Japan.
Hortus Musicus’ repertoire includes music from the 8th–20th century. Their programs consist of the Gregorian chant, organums, medieval liturgical dramas, hymns and motets, works of the Franco-Flemish school, the Trecento-masters of Italy, the 16th-century rigid polyphony, French chansons, Italian madrigals, frotollas and villanelles, a large amount of suites from Renaissance dances, early sonatas and secular large-scale works of Baroque composers of the 17th–18th centuries and the music of 20th century composers. Many contemporary composers have written pieces for the ensemble, such as Alexander Knaifel, Arvo Pärt, Galina Grigorjeva, Lepo Sumera and others. Hortus Musicus has recorded more than 30 CD-s for Warner Classics, Melodiya, Forte, Erdenklang, Antes, ERP and others — the latest, “Jerusalem″, was released in 2017 (ERP).
● Fri, July 13th at 10 pm
AWAKE, MY HEART
Chamber choir Collegium Musicale, Jaak Sooäär (guitar), conductor Endrik Üksvärav
Kreek
In the second concert of the day, spiritual meets secular through the blend of Cyrillus Kreek's original compositions and improvisations on an electric guitar. One sources of inspiration for this to happen was the acclaimed album “Officium″ by Jan Garbarek and The Hilliard Ensemble. The audience and the performes will find out together what the outcome will be.
Estonian chamber choir Collegium Musicale was founded by conductor Endrik Üksvärav in October 2010. The repertoire extends from renaissance to contemporary music. A special place in the repertoire belongs to the Estonian composers: Arvo Pärt, Veljo Tormis, Erkki-Sven Tüür, Helena Tulve, Tõnu Kõrvits, Mirjam Tally, Pärt Uusberg etc. The aim is to offer high level musical emotions and be the ambassadors of Estonian music.
The choir has worked with different orchestras and ensembles — Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Rascher Saxophone Quartet, Tallinn Baroque Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, baroque orchestra Barrocade (Israel), Corelli Consort, Glasperlenspiel Sinfonietta, string quartet Prezioso etc and conductors including Tõnu Kaljuste, Andres Mustonen, Kaspars Putninš (LT), Aapo Häkkinen (FIN), Simon Carrington (UK), Jos van Veldhoven (Holland), Darrel Ang (Singapur/FRA), Mihhail Gerts, Toomas Vavilov.
Collegium Musicale has had concert tours in Italy (Rome, Arezzo, Gorizia etc), France, Russia, Finland, Germany, Poland, Czech, Malta and Japan. Estonian composers Erkki-Sven Tüür and Arvo Pärt participated in the choir’s concert in Tokyo.
Estonian Choral Association has announced Collegium Musicale twice as the Choir of the Year — 2011 and 2015.
Jaak Sooäär’s first performances were as a member of the Estonian Boys’ Choir in which he started singing at the age of seven. He has been active on the Estonian jazz and pop scene since 1989, playing the guitar literally with everybody of note. He graduated from Tartu University in 1994 (majored in international economy), from the Music College in Tallinn in 1996, and from the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen in 2001. He has been teaching the guitar and ensemble at the Jazz Music Department of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre since 2001, he’s been the Head of the Department since 2004, and was nominated a professor in 2010. In 2004, he established Estonian Jazz Union which has since then very successfully promoted jazz in Estonia and Estonian jazz abroad.
Since the late 1990s, Sooäär has performed with many internationally known jazz musicians and has been active in several international bands, including The Dynamite Vikings, Erdmann/Sooäär Dessert Time, Heavy Beauty, Kruglov-Sooäär Quartet, Sooäär/Yaralyan/Ounaskari and Almost Zebra. He has also performed as guest soloist with WDR Big Band (Germany) toured with The European Jazz Youth Orchestra been a member of the EBU Big Band.
In 2013, the quartet “Mustonen-Sooäär-Remmel-Ruben” received the Estonian Music Award for the best jazz artist with album A Tempo. In 2007, Sooäär was the first to receive the Annual Estonian Jazz Award and in the same year he also received an annual award of the Estonian Culture Endownment. Jaak Sooäär has recorded over 30 CDs.
Conductor and singer Endrik Üksvärav has graduated from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in choir conducting (in the classes of Olev Oja and Hirvo Surva). He has also studied the trumpet under Aavo Ots and the horn under Kalervo Kulmala.
Üksvärav has conducted many wind and chamber orchestras and chamber choirs. He has participated in the masterclasses of Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi, Jorma Panula, Eri Klas, Anders Eby and Ervin Ortner.
In 2012, Endrik Üksvärav began his studies at the Hague Royal Conservatory, his teachers were Peter Kooij, Michael Chance, Jill Feldman and Maria Acda-Maas.
In 2012, he was recognized by the Folk Culture Endowment of the Estonian Cultural Endowment for his work as a conductor and singer and for iniating the Pühalepa Music Festival.
● Sat, July 14th at 7 pm
ANNUNCIATION
Maria Krestinskaya (violin, Russia) & Imbi Tarum (harpsichord), Kädy Plaas (soprano) & Reinut Tepp (Hammerklavier)
Biber, Bach, dall’Oglio, Haydn, Mozart
Maria Krestinskaya began studying the violin at the age of seven, first in Tbilisi, later at the class of Vladimir Ovcharek at the St Petersburg Conservatory.
She became fascinated with authenthic performance in 1998, when she started working with Marie Leonhardt (Netherlands), Andrey Reshetin and the Musica Petropolitana ensemble. Maria is a winner of numerous international competitions and participant of many festivals, including Concertino Praga, Jascha Heifetz Competition for Violinists, International Glazunov Competition in Paris. She has received a grant of the Rostropovich‐Vishnevskaya Foundation.
As a baroque violinist, Maria has participated in the EARLYMUSIC festival (Saint Petersburg), Utrecht Oude Muziek (Netherlands), Muzikfestspiele Sans‐Souci (Germany), Vantaa Early Music Festival (Finland), Boston Early Music Festival (USA). Since 2002 she has been playing in the Orchestra of Katherine the Great and the ensemble Soloists of Katherine the Great directed by Andrey Reshetin.
Maria has participated in master‐classes of Marie Leonhardt, Andrew Manze, Monica Huggett, Peter van Heyghen, Andrew Lawrence‐King.
She has performed as a soloist with Michael Chance, Paul O’Dette, Stephen Stubbs, Phoebe Carrai, Kristian Bezuidenhout, Bob van Asperen and Dmitry Sinkowsky.
Harpsichord player Imbi Tarum is highly valued performer of early music in Estonia. She has studied piano with prof Bruno Lukk in the Tallinn State Conservatory, which she graduated cum laude, and honed her skills as a harpsichordist with Ton Koopman, Vaughan Schlepp, Bob van Asperen and Menno van Delft at the Amsterdam Conservatory.
Imbi Tarum is an active musician, who performs solo recitals, chamber music and as continuo player in Estonia and abroad. During 1978–1992, Imbi Tarum was the harpsichordist of early music ensemble Hortus Musicus, performing in several European countries and metropolises of the former Soviet Union (Moscow, Leningrad, Kyiv), as well as in the US and Israel. She regularly performs with ensembles Tallinn Baroque and Corelli Consort and Tallinn Baroque Orchestra. She has also collaborated with foreign ensembles and orchestras like Concerto Copenhagen (Denmark), Concerto Palatino (Netherlands), His Majesty’s Sagbutts and Cornetts (UK), Sansara (Latvia) etc. Among her ensemble partners in Estonia have been singers Kaia Urb, Risto Joost and Kädy Plaas. The list of foreign vocal and instrumental soloists includes basses Harry van der Kamp (Netherlands) and Peter Kooij (Netherlands), sopranos Gloria Bandiatelli (Italy), Ellen Hargis (USA) and Agnés Alibert (France), counter tenor Mikael Bellini (Sweden), cellist Hans-Rolf Hauck (Germany) and numerous others.
Imbi Tarum can be considered a pioneer of harpsichord teaching in Estonia. Since 1991, she has been teaching harpsichord and basso continuo at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. She has also led harpsichord courses in different music universities in Europe − Rome, Salerno, Verona, Pesaro, the Hague, Madrid, Poznań, Trossingen, Weimar, Salzburg, Halle, Berlin, Jeruslaem, Stockholm and Zaragoza.
Imbi Tarum has been the artistic director of all Harpsichord Days festival in Estonia. She has also acted as a music consultant of the Church Music Festival in Rapla. Since 2001, Tarum has been the head of the Estonian Harpsichord Friends’ Society. She has also written articles on music for various newspapers and magazines.
Kädy Plaas graduated from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in 2007 with a BA in opera singing. She is currently obtaining her Master’s degree at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in the singing class of Nadja Kurem. She has also studied as an exchange student at the Hamburg University of Music and Theatre in the singing class of Ingrid Kremling.
In 2002−2004 Kädy Plaas was a singer of the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir. Since autumn 2004 she is a soloist of the project theatre Nargen Opera, where she has performed in Haydn’s operas L’isola disabitata (Silvya), Il mondo della luna (Flaminia), Armida (Zelmira) and Beethoven’s Fidelio (Marzelline). Kädy Plaas has also soloed in several oratorical works, such as Haydn’s Missa Sancti Nicolai, Harmoniemesse and Die Schöpfung, Mozart’s Requiem, passion cantata Grabmusik, oratorio Davide penidente, Salieri’s Requiem, Händel’s oratorios Messiah and Joshua, Charpentier’s Te Deum, and Vivaldi’s Gloria. Since 2003 she has participated in the Haapsalu Early Music Festival, performing solos in Händel’s psalm cantata Dixit Dominus and Bach’s Cantatas Nos 31 and 21, Magnificat and Easter Oratorium. In addition, Kädy Plaas has participated in the premières of several contemporary works by noted Estonian composers such as Toivo Tulev’s Flute Concerto (vocal part), Helena Tulve’s Silences / larmes for oboe and soprano, Tõnu Kõrvits’ chamber operas My Swans, My Thoughts (“Mu luiged, mu mõtted”) and Firegarden (“Tuleaed“), Gavin Bryars’ To Define Happiness (world première). In 2007−2008 Kädy Plaas made her debut at the Vanemuine Theatre as Pamina in Mozart’s Zauberflöte and at the Hamburg Staatsoper as Frasquita in Bizet’s Carmen as well as the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Zauberflöte. In 2009 brought the titlerole in Massenet’s Manon in Vanemuine Theatre and Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto in Estonian National Opera.
She was awarded the Annual Music Award 2007 by Estonian Cultural Endowment.
Kädy Plaas has performed with orchestras such as the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Glasperlenspiel Sinfonietta, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Tallinn Baroque Orchestra, and Sinfonietta Riga. She has also worked with several conductors, including Eri Klas, Andres Mustonen, Simon Hewett, Anu Tali, Olari Elts, Risto Joost, Jüri Alperten, Edward Higginbottom and Tõnu Kaljuste.
Renowed harpsichordist Reinut Tepp began his music studies at the music class of Tallinn Secondary School No. 7, where he studied piano under the guidance of Samuel Lazikin. In 1987 Reinut Tepp graduated from Tallinn Music High School with Ell Saviauk and 1993 from Tallinn State Conservatory under the guidance on prof Laine Mets. In 1996 he obtained master's degree from Estonian Music Academy on piano and harpsichord under the guidance of prof. Laine Mets and prof. Imbi Tarum. In addition Tepp has developed his skills as a harpsichordist at mastercourse of Huguette Dreyfur in Franz, Villecroze.
Since 1987 Reinut Tepp has worked as accompanist at Ellerhein preparatory choir and since 1992 at Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. Since 1995 Reinut Tepp teaches chamber music and harpsichord at Georg Ots Tallinn Music School as well as in the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre.
Reinut Tepp is an active instrumentalist involved with several ensembles and orchestras. Since 1998 he is a member of chamber orchestra Kremerata Baltica (artistic director Gidon Kremer), he also playes at the sextet of the orchestra (Kremerata Baltica Sextet). He has given recitals with the orchestra at several famous concert halls including Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Tōkyō Suntory Hall and worked together with renowed musicians as Michaela Petri, Sergio Azzolini, Kalve Kuljus, Moshe Aron Epstein and Maria Fedotova. Tepp has also played with ochestras such as Tallinn Baroque Orchestra, Corelli Consort, Estonian Baroque Soloists, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and very often performes with early music ensemble Cantores Vagantes.
In 2010 Reinut Tepp was awarded with Annual Prize of the Estonian Cultural Endowment for Music for outstanding partnership with several music ensembles.
● Sat, July 14th at 10 pm
LEFT WITH NO GOODBYES
Trio Mikhail Dzudze (bass balalaika), Boris Andrianov (cello), Dimitri Illarionov (guitar) / Russia
Rameau, Couperin, Bach, Albéniz, de Falla, Villa-Lobos, Piazzolla
An outstanding performer on bass-balalaika, Mikhail Dzudze was a soloist of Terem-Quartet ensemble from St Petersburg in 1986−2015. Until now he remains an unsurpassed music performer on bass balalaika by virtuosity and power of impact on the listener. As a true innovator, he has invented many performing tricks on this instrument. He has also popularized the bass balalaika as a solo instrument by performing “Bachianas Brasileiras No 5” by Heitor Villa-Lobos, “Shutkabaha″ by Terem-Quartet, Shchedrin’s “Imitating Albéniz″ and many other works in his own arrangements.
Mikhail Dzudze has performed in many prestigious concert halls of the world, most memorable events being in Vatican in front of an audience of 120 000 people, including Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa; in Venice at St Mark’s Square, in London at St. James's Palace by the invitation of Prince Charles, at 3000 Anniversary of Jerusalem, at the G8 Summit in St. Petersburg, at the Eurovision Contest and at the olympic games in Vancouver, London and Sochi.
As a part of the Terem-Quartet, Mikhail Dzudze’s playing can be heard on 24 albums.
Cellist Boris Andrianov has graduated from the Moscow State Conservatoire (class of Natalia Shakhovskaya) and at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler under the tutelage of David Geringas.
Boris Andrianov has been awarded prizes at many international competitions, including the Shostakovich Competition Classica Nova in Hannover, the Mstislav Rostropovich Cello Competition in Paris, the Tchaikovsky Competition, the Antonio Janigro Competition in Zagreb and the Isang Yun Competition in South Korea.
He performs with symphony and chamber orchestras, among them the Mariinsky Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, Kammerorchester Berlin, Russian National Orchestra, Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Moscow Philharmonic and Kammerorchester Wien. He has performed with conductors as Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Alexander Vedernikov, Vasily Petrenko, Gianandrea Noseda, Roman Kofman and others. He has also worked closely with Krzysztof Penderecki, performing his Concerto Grosso for three cellos and orchestra. Andrianov′s stage partners include Yuri Bashmet, Leif Ove Andsnes, Menahem Pressler, Akiko Suwanai, Janine Jansen, Julian Rachlin, Denis Matsuev, Alexander Ghindin, Maxim Rysanov, Boris Brovtsyn and many others.
Andrianov plays on the Domenico Montagnana cello from the Russian State Collection of Unique Musical Instruments.
Russian guitarist Dmitri Illarionov graduated with honours from the Academic Music College at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory in 1997. He then studied at the Russian Gnesins′s Academy of Music with professor Alexander Frauchi. He has also taken lessons with the Russian composer and guitarist Nikita Koshkin; masterclasses with guitarists Carlo Marchione and Roberto Aussel, lutenist Hopkinson Smith and cellist David Geringas. Illarionov currently teaches his own class in the Academy.
Illarionov is the winner and laureate of numerous international competitions in the USA, Spain, Poland, Belgium, the Czech Republic and Russia. Besides guitar competitions, he has also been awarded in composing and conducting competitions.
Illarionov has an active concert life, playing solo recitals and performing as soloist with orchestras. He has played with such orchestras as the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia, the State Symphony Orchestra “New Russia″, the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, the Irkutsk Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, the Moscow Chamber “The Seasons″ Orchestra, the National Chamber Orchestra of Moldova and the Wuppertal Plucked Orchestra. In addition to numerous appearances in Russia, he has performed in the Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Estonia, Poland, Italy, Germany, the USA, Canada and Japan.
Illarionov's repertoire is broad and versatile. It ranges across various periods and styles: music of the Renaissance and Baroque, original music for guitar from the 19th and early 20th centuries, and music of the 20th and 21st centuries, as well as compositions for guitar with orchestra and chamber music.
● Sun, July 15th at 7 pm
EVENING BELLS
Rémi Boucher (guitar, Canada) & Arsis Handbell and Chime Ensembles, conductor Aivar Mäe
Estonian folk tunes, Eespere, Kõrvits, Eller, Pärt, Vähi, Kruusmaa (première)
Canadian guitarist Rémi Boucher is known for his exquisite playing techinque and has been awarded in many international competitions. He has performed over ten of the most known guitar concerts, including pieces written espescially for him. Rémi Boucher is the first Canadian guitarist, who has been awarded with the highly acclaimed Sylva Gelber award. Boucher also works as a professor at the Québec Conservatory in Canada.
Arsis Handbell Ensemble is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. When they started in 1993, the 12 members were the only handbell-players not only in the Baltics but in the Scandinavian countries as well. Today, the ensemble is made up of 8 members who have given over 1000 concerts all over the world − in Europe and in the United States, South Africa, China and Lebanon. There are also Arsis youth ensembles and handbell schools operating in Tallinn and in Tartu. Aivar Mäe and Mari Tooming conduct the youth ensembles and they participate actively in the Arsis concert programme in Estonia and abroad.
Aivar Mäe has studied the clarinet at the Tallinn Music High School and music pedagogy at the Tallinn Conservatory. He has further educated himself on conducting and music management at the Portland University in the US. He has played in the Pärnu Orchestra and in Tapa Orchestra, and been the soloist of the pop-rock group Vitamiin.
He has been the General Manager of the national concert institution Eesti Kontsert and held same position in the Vanemuine Theatre. Since 2009, Aivar Mäe is the General Manager of the Estonian National Opera.
● Mon, July 16th at 7 pm
GOYESCAS (The Gallants in Love)
Age Juurikas (piano), Linnar Priimägi (art historian)
Granados
Considered to be Enrique Granados' crowning creation, the piano suite “Goyescas″ was inspired by the paintings of Francisco Goya. The work’s subtitle, Los Majos Enamorados or The Gallants in Love, indicates its intention to depict the amorous adventures of working-class swains, and the maids who have caught their eye, in the poorer neighbourhoods of Madrid. Art historian Linnar Priimägi will give a brief introduction before the concert.
Age Juurikas is a solo pianist and a chamber musician with a forcefully suggestive style, uniting the best piano traditions of both Europe and Russia. She is also a passionate teacher, working with students at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre and at Tallinn Music High School. Juurikas has held recitals and performed as a chamber musician with many acclaimed Estonian and foreign musicians in practically all over Europe and North America. She has been a soloist with many orchestras, including the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra and National Academic Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. She has worked with conductors such as Neeme Järvi, Kaspars Putniņš, Arvo Volmer and Risto Joost. Age Juurikas has been awarded many prizes at competitions in Estonia and abroad as well. She won the first Neeme Järvi Young Musician Award in 2003 and received the annual Award of Sound Art Endowment of the Estonian Cultural Endowment in 2014.
Her favourite repertoire consists of music composed in the first half of the 20th century, but she is also interested in performing contemporary music and works with many composers. She has tried to swim upstream when designing her concert programs − not to be contained in the frame of the famous pieces, but to find a place for fresh and less-known masterpieces. In recent times, she has participated in large-scale contemporary music projects such as Grisey’s Vortex Temporum, Stockhausen’s Mantra and the world premiere of Toivo Tulev’s piano concerto Nada. Age Juurikas has recorded all the piano preludes of Mart Saar, many pieces by Scriabin and Albéniz and newer Estonian chamber music for the archives of the Estonian Public Broadcasting. In late 2017, she released her CD “The Soul of Fire″ (ERP), where she performed works by Stravinsky, de Falla, Albéniz and Mompou.
Linnar Priimägi is an Estonian art historian, media specialist, critic and a poet. In his master's thesis he analyzed the iconographic and ideological context of a drawing by Albrecht Dürer. He received his PhD in 2005. Priimägi has taught german and literary criticism theory in Tartu University, the history of philosophy in the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre and since 2005 he has taught advertising and imagology at the Tallinn University.
● Tue, July 17th at 5 pm, Vilde ja Vine (Vallikraavi Str 4, Tartu), free entrance
ART. LIVE. STREAMING
The opening of a painting exhibition by Anna Litvinova
The exhibition, which opens before the last concert, will develop during the festival. Before each concert, artist Anna Litvinova will have a blank canvas before her. Inspired by the performances, the paintings will be ready by the end of each night.
“Music has always been a great inspiration for me. It helps to separate oneself from reality and to be in the desired place. I have drawn, sketched and painted musicians. I like to observe a person doing their natural activities, specially when its another creator-artist. Double game, process within a process, creation in creation…
It has always been a challenge for me to translate music into my artistic language. And pleasure. A dynamic musicians, who gives their all, creates a powerful game of sounds that reaches the audience, awakening our minds, because music revives them. This moment is the moment of being truly alive.″
Anna Litvinova was born in 1976 in Saint Petersburg, Russia and has been living in Tallinn, Estonia since 1986. Anna graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts as a fine art and painting major. Her works have been exhibited at numerous galleries in group and solo shows. Anna is an intense painter who has a great sense of color, and with her bold brush strokes, creates a vivid, exciting world for us on a blank canvas whether it be a landscape or a human figure. She is constantly evolving as an artist to reach the next level of creativity.
● Tue, July 17th at 7 pm
SUMMA SUMMARUM
Baltic Neopolis Virtuosi (Poland)
Górecki, Pärt, Vähi, Bruch, Wiren
Baltic Neopolis Virtuosi gathers the artistic potential of the Baltic Sea Region. Its goal is to present the most valuable phenomena and tendencies in Polish music. In 2017, the project included 5 concert tours during which the ensemble performed a series of concerts in six countries of the Baltic area: Poland, Norway, Lithuania, Estonia, Germany and Sweden. Baltic Virtuosi concerts promote the music of Polish composers, both the prominent and well-known as well as talented young artists alongside music from the Baltic Sea Region for bigger chamber ensembles ranging from quintets to chamber orchestra. The ensemble consists of international renown musicians sharing the passion of chamber music: members of Baltic Neopolis Orchestra and outstanding soloists such as Bartłomiej Nizioł, the winner of three Fryderyk Music Awards; Tomasz Tomaszewski, Deutsche Oper concertmaster; Maria Machowska − concertmaster of National Philharmonic in Warsaw; Andriy Vivytovych − principal violist of Covent Garden Opera Orchestra in London; Gareth Lubbe − professor at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen; Adam Klocek − winner of the Grammy Award in 2014; Andreas Lend − one of the most titled Estonian cellists and Marcelo Nisinman, one of today’s foremost bandoneon soloist.
The Baltic Neopolis Virtuosi project has been granted by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland.
Glasperlenspiel presents:
● Thu, November 15th, 2018 at 7 pm at Niguliste kirik (St Nicholas’ Church), address Niguliste Street 3, Tallinn
DELIRIUM AMORIS / FRENCH TASTE
European Union Baroque Orchestra & Amandine Beyer (violin, France)
Leclair, Campra, Muffat, Corrette
French taste or “le goût français” brings French Baroque masterpieces into St Nicholas’ church on November 15. The European Union Baroque Orchestra (EUBO) will perform the spectacular music from this era.
The program includes important French Baroque composers: the founder of the French violin school Jean-Marie Leclair, one of the leading French opera composers André Campra and organist, composer and author of musical method books Michel Corrette. EUBO will also bring to the audience the music of Georg Muffat, including the concert’s title piece Delirium amoris.
The European Union Baroque Orchestra is an orchestra like no other – it is is re-created anew every year, selecting from the finest young musical talent from all over the EU. Naturally, the orchestra plays on Baroque instruments and according to the tuning standards of the era. EUBO’s artistic director is known Baroque music specialist Lars Ulrik Mortensen.
Acclaimed Baroque violinist Amandine Beyer will conduct and be the soloist of the Tallinn concert.
Limited number of tickets available at Piletilevi.
The European Union Baroque Orchestra (EUBO) is like no other orchestra: its modus operandi since its foundation in 1985 has been to audition and select new personnel annually. EUBO’s ephemeral existence makes its concerts special: live performances enjoying all the technical accomplishment of the best young baroque musicians in Europe, allied to an infectious undimmed sense of discovery and enjoyment. “The skilful playing of this extraordinary pan-European orchestra… augurs well for the future of Baroque music-making in Europe.” (International Record Review, 2014)
Members of EUBO come from all over the European Union to gain performing experience, working together under the inspirational leadership of Music Director Lars Ulrik Mortensen and some of the world’s finest Baroque musicians. Ton Koopman, Margaret Faultless, Enrico Onofri, Rachel Podger, Riccardo Minasi, Paul Agnew, Gottfried von der Goltz and Stefano Montanari have all been guest directors in recent seasons.
Tours take the talented young orchestra to all corners of Europe − from celebrated city concert halls, to seaside summer festivals, to monasteries nestling in autumnal forests, and to winter celebrations in beautiful churches. And at the centre of these great arcs of European travelling EUBO has established residencies in several cities, most notably as “orchestra-in-residence” in Echternach, Luxembourg, where, with the support of its local partners, it is creating a centre of excellence for Baroque music. Over the years EUBO has recorded several CDs, the last four under the direction of Lars Ulrik Mortensen. The CD release Peace & Celebration, featuring choral and orchestral works by Handel, was recorded live in concert in Londonwith the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, in September 2013. Gramophone magazine praised “the refreshing spontaneity of this live recording. The rapturous dialogue of Mortensen and his youthful crew…put some more experienced Baroque bands to shame.” EUBO’s recording Pure Handel with soprano Maria Keohane was shortlisted for the 2014 Gramophone Awards: “a generous celebration of this estimable organisation’s (EUBO) continuing high achievement. These are live-wire performances, technically excellent and propelled with exactly the right degree of driving energy…” (Gramophone, August 2014).
Between 2015 and 2018, the activities of EUBO are an integral part of EUBO Mobile Baroque Academy, a Creative Europe co-operation project, co-funded by the European Union and organised by EUBO and its nine partners. The orchestra has been honoured with the status of Cultural Ambassador for the European Union in perpetuity. Flying the flag for Europe, “EUBO is” as former EC President Barroso says, “a perfect symbol of the power of integration, a subtle and potent instrument of harmonisation between people and nations”.
Many concerts are broadcasted live on ERP Live. Listen from your browser or download the app to your mobile device. Get information about upcoming broadcasts by pressing “like” on ERP Live’s Facebook page.
Organizers:
Peeter Vähi − artistic director
Taavet − artistic advisor
Tiina Jokinen − executive director
Kadri Kiis − producer, accountant
Kaisa Luik − liner notes, booklet, website
Olavi Sööt − logistics
Johannes Vähi − webcast / live streaming, logistics
Reno Hekkonens − PR, marketing
Special thanks: Tartu City Government, Toyota Baltic AS, Urmas Klaas, Juhani Jaeger, Priit Reiman, Assar Jõgar, Kaupo Kiis, Kristel Leppik, volunteers
See also: Glasperlenspiel-festivals; Glasperlenspiel 2017, Glasperlenspiel 2016, Glasperlenspiel 2015, Glasperlenspiel 2014, Glasperlenspiel 2013, Glasperlenspiel 2012, Glasperlenspiel 2011, Glasperlenspiel 2010, Glasperlenspiel 2009, Glasperlenspiel 2008, Glasperlenspiel 2007, Glasperlenspiel2006, Glasperlenspiel 2005, Archives: Glasperlenspiel2003 and 2004
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Visit also other music events in Estonia: Kabli Sunset Festival