Baltic Centennial: 100 Years of Statehood
$25 / $20 / $5 (children age 6-10 free)
Veljo Tormis — Two Songs After Ernst Enno
Ester Mägi — Pieta
Ester Mägi — Laulikutele
Ēriks Ešenvalds — Northern Lights
Ēriks Ešenvalds — O salutaris hostia
Ēriks Ešenvalds — Tikai Miegā ("Only In Sleep")
Pēteris Vasks — The Fruit of Silence
Pēteris Vasks — Mūsu dziesma
Rihards Dubra — Te Deum
Vytautas Miškinis — Dum medium silentium
Vytautas Miškinis — Angelis suis deus
Vytautas Miškinis — Judica me - Deus
Kristina Vasiliauskaitė — Varpas
Baltic Centennial will commemorate one hundred years since the Declaration of Independence of the three Baltic states – home of the “Singing Revolution.” Hear the finest contemporary choral music today from Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania.
On March 24, 2018, the Seattle Choral Company in collaboration with the Magi Baltic Ensemble and the U of W Baltic Studies Program will salute this centennial with a concert demonstrating the sheer beauty and excellence of choral music from the Baltic countries. In the Baltics, singing is cultural and historical. Choral music was vital in developing and maintaining a sense of national identity during many years of occupation, as well as providing a means of creative resistance; and so it retained its central role within the culture.
A pre-concert talk will be given one hour before the performance at 7:00 p.m. by Prof. Guntis Šmidchens, Chair of Baltic Studies at the University of Washington.
The concert will begin with the singing of the three national anthems during the presentation of flags representing the three Baltic nations. Choral works then to be performed will be:
FROM ESTONIA
Cyrillus Kreek – "Two Psalms of David"
Veljo Tormis – “Two Songs After Ernst Enno”
Ester Mägi – “Pieta”
Ester Mägi – “Laulikutele”
FROM LATVIA
Ēriks Ešenvalds – “Northern Lights”
Ēriks Ešenvalds – “O salutaris hostia”
Ēriks Ešenvalds – “Only In Sleep”
Pēteris Vasks – “The Fruit of Silence”
Pēteris Vasks – “Mūsu dziesma”
Rihards Dubra – “Te Deum”
FROM LITHUANIA
Vytautas Miškinis – “Dum medium silentium"
Vytautas Miškinis – “Angelis suis Deus”
Vytautas Miškinis – “Judica me, Deus”
Kristina Vasiliauskaitė – “Varpas”
Participating with the Seattle Choral Company will be six area choral ensembles:
Mägi Baltic Ensemble (Directed by Heather MacLaughlin Garbes)
Redmond Chorale (Directed by Laurie Betts Hughes)
Seattle Girl’s Choir/Cantamus & Allegra divisions (Directed by Alex Gagiu and Sarra Sharif)
Columbia Choirs/Bel Canto division (Directed by Steve Stevens)
Illumni Men’s Chorale (Directed by Christopher McCafferty)
Ancora (Directed by Freddie Coleman)
About Seattle Choral Company
Founded in 1982 by Artistic Director Freddie Coleman, the Seattle Choral Company has, over the course of 40 years, become one of the region's most accomplished and respected choral organizations. Maestro Coleman's finely-tuned yet spirited interpretations of the masterworks of classical choral music have been acclaimed by critics and audiences, including Berlioz's Te Deum, Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky, Orff's Carmina Burana, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Haydn's Creation, Mozart's C minor Mass, Bach's St. John Passion, and many more. After a recent performance at Benaroya Hall featuring Johannes Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem, The Gathering Note wrote that the performance "was anchored by deep emotions, a strong sense of purpose, and an excellent advocate in Freddie Coleman and the Seattle Choral Company."
Freddie Coleman has also championed America's finest contemporary choral composers, offering area listeners their first live hearing of such works as Arvo Pärt's Te Deum, Philip Glass' Itaipu, Hawley's Songs of Kabir, Roxanna Panufnik's Westminster Mass, and Morten Lauridsen's Lux Aeterna. In 2001, the SCC commissioned a new choral work, Seattle, by New York composer William Hawley, as part of the city of Seattle’s sesquicentennial celebrations. Additionally, the Company has commissioned and premiered new works from gifted Seattle composers, such as Donald Skirvin and Bern Herbolsheimer. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer recently applauded this commitment, stating "it's not surprising that Coleman…would devote an entire program to contemporary music. He has long been an advocate for living composers."
In the 1980s the Seattle Choral Company toured to Australia and the former Soviet Union. (Their work as cultural ambassadors was recognized with a commendation from the Washington State legislature.) The many albums it has recorded, including The Moon Is Silently Singing, When the Morning Stars Sang Together, Carmina Burana, and Unearthed, have been highly praised and received extensive radio exposure. The Company has recorded soundtracks for Public Television (Death: the Trip of a Lifetime) and NBC (Crime and Punishment and Noah's Ark), and its recordings have been used in at least a dozen Hollywood movie trailers.
The Seattle Choral Company has become a valued collaborator with other performing arts organizations in the region. It has appeared on stage with the Pacific Northwest Ballet many times, including several mountings of Kent Stowell's staging of Orff's Carmina Burana, and Hail to the Conquering Hero, featuring choruses by Handel. In 2010, the SCC appeared with the Seattle Youth Symphony in Mahler's Symphony No. 2 ("Resurrection") at Benaroya Hall. The SCC has appeared with the Seattle Symphony on many occasions, including Those Glorious MGM Movie Musicals, Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, Holiday Pops with Doc Severinsen, Holiday Pops with Marvin Hamlisch, New Year's Eve with the Seattle Symphony, and most recently The Matrix Live In Concert. On four occasions, they have appeared at the Paramount Theater in the touring production of Video Games Live, and members of the Company sang in both the Seattle and Portland productions of Star Wars In Concert. The SCC is partnered with the Northwest Sinfonietta, and is an artist-in-residence at Saint Mark's Episcopal Cathedral.
http://www.seattlechoralcompany.org