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The semi-professional chamber choir Voces Musicales, founded in 1999 by Risto Joost, has become a high-level choir with an established and unique place in the Estonian musical life, introducing pieces that are not performed by many other Estonian choirs due to their difficulty.
The choir was successful already in its first seasons and received recognition from several domestic competitions. In autumn 2009 Voces Musicales won the 2nd Prize at the Harald Andersén Chamber Choir Competition. In April 2014, the choir participated in the 1st London International A Cappella Choir Competition and was selected as a finalist.
The choir’s album “Pilgrim’s Song”, with the music of Arvo Pärt, received a positive review in the choral and vocal music section of the BBC Music Magazine, where Barry Witherden gave it the highest rating (5 stars) for musical performance and sound. Another high recognition came for the “Pilgrim’s Song” CD in Gramophone, where Pwyll ap Siôn wrote that “Estonian musicians offer an ideal introduction to Arvo Pärt’s choral music”.
The repertoire of Voces Musicales includes works in diverse genres from Renaissance polyphony to contemporary music and also many important classical repertoire pieces. The most recent major performances of the choir include Erkki-Sven Tüür’s Requiem, Arvo Pärt’s Stabat Mater and Kanon Pokajanen, George Frideric Handel’s oratorios Solomon, Alexander’s Feast, Messiah and Dixit Dominus, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Haydn’s The Creation, Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine and J.S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor (BWV 232) and Johannes-Passion (BWV 245).
The choir has participated in various thematic concert series and festivals, and has had concerts in Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, Latvia, Russia, Slovakia and the UK.
During the first ten seasons the choir’s chief conductor was Risto Joost, with whom the choir continues to cooperate even today. From 2011 to 2014 the chief conductor of Voces Musicales was Kaspar Mänd. The choir has also worked with several other outstanding conductors (e.g. Neeme Järvi, Eri Klas, Olari Elts, Arvo Volmer, Andres Mustonen, Stephen Layton, Peter Phillips) and performed with many renowned Estonian orchestras and ensembles, also with Sinfonietta Rīga (Latvia), Baroque ensemble Barrocade (Israel) and Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa (Japan).
In 2015 Voces Musicales received the annual music award of the Estonian Culture Endowment. |
