Pärnu City Orchestra Opens Its 32nd Season with Music by Great Masters
At the start of its 32nd season, Pärnu City Orchestra pays tribute to three masters whose musical voices have left a unique mark on Estonian music history. In the light of Arvo Pärt’s anniversary year, the orchestra joins forces with the chamber choir Collegium Musicale to perform Pärt’s large-scale Te Deum. Preceding it is Lepo Sumera’s Piano Concerto, a work that has long awaited its next live performance, featuring Kadri-Ann Sumera as soloist. The evening opens with music by Heino Eller, the most influential teacher of both Pärt and Sumera. Selected movements from Eller’s 10 Lyric Pieces will be performed, to the best of our knowledge, for the first time in alternating versions for solo piano and string orchestra.
In addition to the season-opening concert, audiences can look forward to many other exciting events. Original music by Tõnis Kaumann will bring new life to the most famous silent film of all time, The Phantom of the Opera, with screenings taking place on 20 November at Pärnu Concert Hall and on 21 November at the KUMU Auditorium in Tallinn.
The traditional Advent Concert on 7 December will feature popular songs by Daniel Levi alongside festive Christmas melodies. We will also continue our successful family-oriented concert production Celebration Day, which will take place on 9 and 10 January. Another highlight will be the continuation of the interactive concert series The Art of Listening, with its second concert scheduled for Valentine’s Day, 14 February.
The spring half-season brings a major highlight — a performance of J. S. Bach’s St John Passion on 4 April, made possible through the collaboration of a stage director, lighting designer, and nearly 130 musicians. The orchestra season concludes in a festive manner on 7 May with Dvořák’s Symphony No. 7, conducted by chief conductor Henri Christofer Aavik. The concert also features one of today’s most versatile cellists, Theodor Sink, performing Robert Schumann’s Cello Concerto.
See you at the sound-filled encounters!