«  
  »

Portlandia Celebrates Estonian Music

Saturday August 6, 3 pm
Join us Saturday afternoon at the hotel as Portland’s best musicians perform Estonian music. Performers include Trillium Voices, the Portland State University Symphony Orchestra, Unistus Kammerkoor, the Clackamas Community College Chamber Choir, and the Oregon City High School Choir.

The program includes
  • Veljo Tormis’ “Kolm Setu töölaulu” (“Three Setu Work Songs”), “Laulu algus” (“The Beginning of Song”), “Raua needmine” (“Curse upon Iron”), and others
  • Heino Eller’s Viis pala keelpilliorkestrile (Five Pieces for String Orchestra)
  • Ester Mägi’s “Viru lauliku mõtted” (“Thoughts of a Singer from Viru”)
  • Urmas Sisask’s “Heliseb väljadel” (“Ringing in the Fields”)
  • Gustav Ernesaks’ “Kanarbik” (“Heather”)
  • Regilaulud (an ancient form of Estonian folk music, click here for more information)

The PSU Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ken Selden, performs a broad range of symphonic and chamber orchestra repertoire. Yearly collaborations include performances with the PSU choruses, opera and instrumental faculty. The Symphony also hosts an annual Concerto Competition and Composition Competition. Recent soloists have included world-class artists such as Awadagin Pratt, Matt Haimovitz, Orli Shaham and Manuel Barrueco. Under the direction of Ken Selden since 2006, the PSU Symphony has won three national awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).

Clackamas Community College Chamber Choir and the Unistus Chamber Choir perform together under the direction of choirmaster and artistic director Lonnie Cline.  Lonnie Cline’s choirs have enriched West Coast Estonian Festivals with beautiful Estonian choral music since 1995.  Unistus Chamber Choir, formed in 2000, has performed at every Portland Estonian Society’s Vabariigi Aastapäev for the past 11 years.  Clackamas Community College continues to bring Estonian choral music into the lives of its chamber choir members for the past 16 years.  The Clackamas Community College Chamber Choir performed at the 23rd Laulupidu choir festival in 1999, and Unistus Chamber Choir performed a the 24th Laulupidu choir festival in 2004.

Trillium Voices was founded in 2007 to  combine the diverse skills and experiences of each of it’s members, providing a performance experience that is bound by no genres and is truly from the heart.  Our members have a long history of singing  Estonian choral music, particularly by the composer Veljo Tormis.   Trillium Voices had the honor of singing at the 25th Laulupidu choir festival in 2009, a recognized UNESCO world heritage event.  Read more about Trillium Voices at www.trilliumvoices.com