From November 12 to December 14, festival dedicated to the 100 anniversary of Estonian legendary choral conductor, composer and pedagogue Gustav Ernesaks will take place. It offers several interesting events: choral concerts in different concert venues all over Estonia, choral competitions, exhibitions, conference, museum evening and Gala Concert.
The conference at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre on November 12 at 12 pm, will open the festival. Papers by musicologists Tiia Järg, Urve Lippus and choral conductors Kuno Areng and Olev Oja will discuss Ernesaks as a composer, conductor and pedagogue. Within the conference, the new CD „My Fatherland is My Love” by Estonian National Male Choir will be presented. The concert of Ernesaks’s solo songs and choral music will be held at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre Chamber Hall after the conference at 4 pm. The music will be performed by singing and choral conducting students of music academy.
Several choral concerts will take place in Tallinn, Jõhvi, Tartu and Paide within the festival, where different school choirs and mixed choirs will perform. Also Estonian National Male Choir, founded in 1944 by Ernesaks, will have three concerts on December 10 in Viljandi, December 11 in Raasiku and December 12 in Tallinn. The winners of the choral contest can be heard on November 13 in Tallinn.
On November 20, the museum evening Gustav Erensaks – Our Teacher will take place in the Estonian Theatre and Music Museum, also an exhibition entitled as The Music of Stormy Shores of operas by Ernesaks can be seen.
A Gala Concert, the highlight of the festival, will take place on December 14 at Estonia Concert Hall, Tallinn. The program consists of opera excerpts and choral works by Ernesaks. Estonian National Opera soloists and symphony orchestra with Eri Klas conducting and several choirs (Estonian National Male Choir, Ellerhein, Tallinn Chamber Choir, Tallinn Technical University Academic Male Choir, Tartu University Academic Female Choir, Mixed Choir of Estonia Society and others) will perform.
The festival Gustav Ernesaks 100 is initialized by the Estonian Ministry of Culture, the events are coordinated by Estonian Choral Association
Agnes Toomla