Performers

Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir

 

Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir (EPCC) is one of the best-known Estonian music ensembles in the world. The EPCC was founded in 1981 by Tõnu Kaljuste, who was the artistic director and chief conductor for twenty years. In the years 2001–2007, the English musician Paul Hillier took over. Between the years 2008–2013 the artistic director and chief conductor was Daniel Reuss and in the years 2014–2021 Kaspars Putniņš. Since August 2021 the artistic director and chief conductor is Tõnu Kaljuste.

The repertoire of the choir extends from Gregorian chant and baroque to the music of the 21st century, with a special focus on the work of Estonian composers, such as Arvo Pärt, Veljo Tormis, Erkki-Sven Tüür, Galina Grigoryeva, Toivo Tulev, Tõnu Kõrvits, Helena Tulve, and introducing their output to the world. Each season the choir gives about 60–70 concerts both in Estonia and abroad.
 

The EPCC has cooperated with a number of outstanding conductors including Claudio Abbado, Helmuth Rilling, Eric Ericson, Ward Swingle, Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi, Nikolai Alekseyev, Olari Elts, Gregory Rose, Andrew Lawrence-King, Roland Böer, Frieder Bernius, Stephen Layton, Marc Minkowski, Christoph Poppen, Sir Colin Davis, Michael Riesman, Louis Langree, Paul McCreesh, Gottfried von der Goltz, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Anu Tali, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Peter Phillips, Gustavo Dudamel, Sir Simon Rattle etc.
 

The EPCC has also worked with the following world-class orchestras such as the Norwegian, Australian, Lithuanian, Prague and Stuttgardt Chamber Orchestras, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Berlin Rundfunk Orchestra, Concerto Copenhagen, Concerto Palatino, the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra, the Salzburg Camerata, Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble, the Philip Glass Ensemble, the North Netherland Symphony Orchestra, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Basel Chamber Orchestra, the Sarasota Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra.

The EPCC has been a welcome guest at numerous music festivals and outstanding venues all over the world including the BBC Proms, the Mozartwoche, the Abu Gosh Music Festival, the Hong Kong Arts Festival, the Musikfest Bremen, the Salzburg Festspiele, the Edinburgh International Festival, the Festival Aix-en-Provence, the International Cervantino Festival, the Vale of Glamorgan Festival, the Bergen International Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, the Sydney Opera House, Wiener Konzerthaus, the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Versailles Opéra Royal, Palau de la Musica in Barcelona, LSO St Luke’s and Barbina Centre in London, the Esplanade in Singapore, the Flagey in Brussels, Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Kennedy Centre in Washington, the Lincoln Centre and Carnegie Hall in New York, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles etc.
 

Another important aspect in the choir’s life is recording music (for ECM, Virgin Classics, Carus, Harmonia Mundi and Ondine), resulting in various award-winning CDs. The EPCC recordings have twice won a Grammy-Award for Best Choral Performance: in 2007 for the album of Arvo Pärt’s Da Pacem (Harmonia Mundi) with conductor Paul Hillier and Arvo Pärt’s Adam’s Lament (ECM) with conductor Tõnu Kaljuste. All in all, the choir has 16 Grammy nominations with works by Arvo Pärt, Erkki-Sven Tüür and the music from the Nordic countries. In 2018 the recording „Schnittke – Psalms of Repentance. Pärt – Magnificat & Nunc dimittis” (BIS), conducted by Kaspars Putniņš, won Gramophone Award. The EPCC recordings have also won the award Diapason d’Or, Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, Danish Music Award, de Choc de l’Année Classica 2014, Prix Caecilia, and more. In 2020 BBC Music Magazine has named EPCC as one of the 10 best choirs in the world.

https://www.epcc.ee/en/

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Cantoque Ensemble

 

Cantoque Ensemble, founded in 2017, is a chamber choir of eight to twelve singers based in Reykjavík, Iceland. All singers are professional singers, many of whom have sung with orchestras around the world, performed on the stage of eg the Icelandic Opera and received various awards for their singing.

 

Cantoque Ensemble was founded from a Nordic collaboration with the baroque orchestras Höör Barock and Camerata Öresund with their concert being nominated for the Icelandic Music Awards as Musical Event of the Year 2017. The Cantoque Ensemble performed JS Bach's cantatas at the Summer Concert in Skálholt with the Bach Orchestra in Skálholt under the baton of the renowned conductor Andreas Spering. The choir has held numerous concerts with Icelandic folk songs and prides itself in performing new Icelandic music. Cantoque Ensemble collaborates with conductor Steinar Logi Helgason and recently performed JS Bach's Passion with the Baroque band Brák under his direction, as well as performing new Icelandic vocal music at the Summer Concert in Skálholt and at the Song Festival in Hafnarborg under the direction of Steinar Loga .

 

Cantoque Ensemble's recent projects include the continued collaboration with Camerata Öresund in 2021, but also the baroque ensemble Ensemble Nylandia from Sweden. The project took place in Iceland and Denmark, with the concert being televised to the baroque festival BarokkiKuopio in Finland. That concert was nominated as Musical Event of the Year at the Icelandic Music Awards. Cantoque also held a concert at Dark Music Days 2022, under Helgason's direction, where Icelandic composer Jón Nordal's choral music was at the forefront. The concert was highly praised by critics and concertgoers alike. Subsequently, Cantoque presented the Nordal-project at PODIUM, at Dark Music Days 2023.

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In 2023, Cantoque began a collaboration with Ensemble Choeur3 and the artistic director Abélia Nordmann, who is based in Switzerland but works across borders to France and Germany. Together, the groups performed Frank Martin's well-known Mass for Double Choir along with Icelandic work. The programme was also performed at the final concert of the Song Festival in Hafnarborg in July 2023. In Switzerland, Cantoque also performed an all-Icelandic repertoire to introduce Icelandic choral works as well as holding a masterclass for conductors and choral singers in the Basel area.

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https://www.cantoque-ensemble.com/en

 

 

Tõnu Kaljuste, listrænn stjórnandi og aðalstjórnandi

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Grammy Award-winning conductor and five-time Grammy Award nominee Tõnu Kaljuste has gained international recognition with his diverse repertoire, which ranges from operas and classical symphonic works to contemporary music. He has worked with major modernist composers of Northern and Eastern Europe, such as Alfred Schnittke, György Kurtág, Krzysztof Penderecki, Giya Kancheli, and Einojuhani Rautavaara, and is recognised as an expert interpreter and advocate of Estonian composers, including Arvo Pärt, Erkki-Sven Tüür, Tõnu Kõrvits, Veljo Tormis, and Heino Eller.

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Tõnu Kaljuste has got Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance for the album Arvo Pärt. Adam’s Lament in 2014. His recordings have had a number of Grammy nominations in various categories: Arvo Pärt. Te Deum (Best Choral Performance, 1994), Erkki-Sven Tüür. Crystallisatio (Best Classical Producer, 1997), Arvo Pärt. Litany (Best Classical Producer, 1997), Arvo Pärt. Kanon Pokajanen (Best Contemporary Classical Composition; Best Classical Producer, 1999), Arvo Pärt. Orient Occident (Best Classical Album, 2003), Arvo Pärt. In Principio (Best Contemporary Classical Composition, 2010), Ståle Kleiberg. David and Bathsheba (Best Opera Recording, 2014), Gesualdo (Best Classical Compendium, 2016).

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In 2019 he won the International Classical Music Award for the recording of Arvo Pärt’s symphonies with the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic Orchestra. Kaljuste’s recordings have won also other several prestigious prizes such as Cannes Classical Award (1999), Diapason d’Or (2000), Edison Musical Award (2000), Classic BRIT Award (2003), Prix Caecilia (2023). He has recorded for the ECM Records, Virgin Classic, BIS and Caprice Records labels.

In 1981, Tõnu Kaljuste founded the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, and, after a 20-year break, returned as its artistic director in August 2021. He founded the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra in 1993 and returned to be its artistic director between 2019–2024. He is the founder and artistic director of the project theatre Nargen Opera (established in 2004) and has led the Nargenfestival since 2006. Tõnu Kaljuste has conducted operas by Joseph Haydn, including L’isola disabitata, Il mondo della luna, and Armida; Beethoven’s Fidelio.

Tõnu Kaljuste has been honoured with many awards in his native Estonia: the Order of the White Star, 4th Class (1998) and the Order of the National Coat of Arms, 2nd Class (2000), the first St Mary’s Medal of St Mary’s Cathedral congregation in Tallinn (2000), Main Prize of the Culture Endowment of Estonia (2004), several national culture awards for the performance of Veljo Tormis’ music (Estonian Ballads in 2005, Estonian Women’s Songs in 2007, Estonian Men’s Songs in 2009), the interpretation award of the Estonian Council of Music (2010), Culture Award of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2011), the Estonian Cultural Endowment’s Grand Prize (2021). He has been awarded the Eri Klas Scholarship (2021), the Honorary Badge of Harju County (2023), and the Coat of Arms Badge of Tallinn (2023). He received Estonian theatre award for the best musical production for Hydrogen Jukebox by Glass (2024). Kaljuste is the Honorary Conductor of the City of Tallinn (2024) and a laureate of the National Lifetime Achievement Award in Culture (2025).

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https://www.epcc.ee/en/the-choir/#people

 

 

Composers

 

Helena Tulve (1972) is an Estonian composer whose music is characterised by constant change and continuous processes. Her music grows out from simple primary impulses, being influenced by natural patterns, organics and synchronicity. No sound can be excluded from Tulve’s music: each timbre can always find its meaningful time and place. Besides composition, she has studied Gregorian chant thoroughly, and various oral musical traditions are still her subject of interest.

 

Helena Tulve has been commissioned by the NYYD Ensemble, Ensemble U:, ensemble diferencias, the Netherlands Chamber Choir, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Uppsala Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Courage, Ensemble Aleph, Seattle Chamber Players, Deutschlandradio, Schumannfest Düsseldorf, Fondation Prince Pierre of Monaco, Nieuw Ensemble, Stockholm Saxophone Quartet, and Gaudeamus Music Week, among others.

 

Helena Tulve served as Composer-in-Residence with the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir in the 2001/02 concert season. Commissioned by the choir, her chamber opera "It Is Getting So Dark", based on the 10th century Japanese female writer Sei Shonagon’s diary-like work "Pillow Book", premiered in 2004.

In 2006, Helena Tulve was the featured composer at the Estonian Music Days Festival. In 2012, she was the Composer-in-Residence at the International Pärnu Music Festival Järvi Academy. During the season 2012/13, she served as Composer-in-Residence with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra.

http://helenatulve.net/

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Hugi Guðmundsson (1977) studied composition at the Reykjavík College of Music and completed a master’s degree in composition at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in 2005.

Hugi composes instrumental music as well as vocal and choral works, ranging from solo pieces to symphonies, oratorios, and opera. He has been nominated twelve times for the Icelandic Music Awards and received the awards in 2008, 2013, 2015, 2016, and 2023. He has served as composer-in-residence at various institutions, and was in residence at the Arvo Pärt Centre in the autumn of 2025. His works have been performed at numerous international festivals, such as Musicarama in Hong Kong S.A.R., the ISCM in Croatia, MATA in New York, the Oslo International Church Music Festival, and the Nordic Music Days, in addition to regular performances in Iceland.

 

Hugi received the Icelandic Music Awards in 2023 for The Gospel of Mary, which was also nominated for the Nordic Council Music Prize in 2024. Hugi will serve as Composer-in-Residence with Iceland Symphony Orchestra during the 2026–2027 and 2027–2028 seasons, coinciding with Barbara Hannigan’s tenure as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director.

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https://hugigudmundsson.com/