Concert marks York’s links with Estonia
Posted on 19 February 2010
Hosted by the University’s Department of Music, The Forgotten Peoples at the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall will feature compositions by Tormis, a towering figure in Estonian music and in the world of choral music.His supreme achievement has been to preserve in his own music the songs of the almost forgotten peoples and languages of the tribes who lived in the region of Karelia, between Estonia and Finland. Tormis's powerful and accessible works embody the heart and soul of Estonian culture and its vibrant choral tradition.
We are thrilled that Tormis is able to join us for this special concert of his music
Celia Frisby
Performed by the Department of Music’s vocal ensemble The 24, directed by John Potter, the programme consists of two parts of Tormis’s great Forgotten Peoples cycle, plus a selection of the Estonian Lyric Folksongs. All the music is based on tunes of the Baltic peoples, and will be sung in Estonian, Finnish and Karelian.
Celia Frisby, the University’s Concerts Administrator, said: “February 24 is Estonian National Day and we are honoured that Veljo Tormis, accompanied by the Estonian Cultural Attaché, Reet Remmel, will be here in York to mark this significant occasion. We have built musical links with Estonia over the past few years and we are thrilled that Tormis is able to join us for this special concert of his music.”
The concert begins at 7.30pm and tickets, priced £8, concessions £6, students £3, are available from the University Box Office, 01904 432439 and online at www.YorkConcerts.co.uk.
As well as attending the concert, to which he will give a spoken introduction (with a translation by Estonian singer Eerik Jöks), Veljo Tormis will have two sessions with postgraduate students at which he will show films of live performances of his work.
Notes to editors:
- More concert information from Celia Frisby: 01904 434749 or cbf2@york.ac.uk.
- Veljo Tormis (b.1930, Tallin) studied at the Moscow State Conservatory where his works were enthusiastically supported by Shostakovich. He became a composition teacher, his students in Tallinn included the young Arvo Pärt during the fifties) and by the late sixties was becoming celebrated as a composer throughout the Soviet republics. Unlike Pärt, Tormis chose to remain in Estonia, close to the people from whose music he drew his inspiration. It took many years for his music to become known in the west. He is now recognised as the foremost composer of his generation, a unique figure in the music of northern Europe. For more information, see: www.facebook.com/pages/Veljo-Tormis/119718380044.
- Dr John Potter, Reader in Music, is a distinguished tenor and a former member of the vocal ensemble The Hilliard Ensemble. He first met Veljo Tormis in the mid-1980s when the Hilliard Ensemble visited Finland and subsequently worked with Tormis when the Ensemble commissioned him to write a piece for them. He invited Tormis to visit York in 2006, in connection with a project about the music of Tormis and Pärt. The University Library now holds the complete Tormis catalogue.
- More information on the Department of Music at the University of York at http://music.york.ac.uk/.
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