The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir at St. Paul's

Last night we had the rare privilege of hosting a wonderful choir.  The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir has a worldwide reputation.  It is particularly associated with the music of Arvo Pärt.  The programme last night intermingled Pärt's chant settings with polyphony by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.  Within the programme as well was a newly commissioned work by Omar Daniel who was present at the performance.  Pärt is now 88 years old and has been providing a rich musical output for many years. 

Woven in all the material was sacred chant.  While the newer music was tonally and sometimes rhythmically quite different than the Orthodox and Catholic chant at its root, there was a very intentional complementarity that maintained a fundamentally prayerful posture.  

In a sense it was an evening of "soul" music and certainly something of the Estonian soul.  The programme was performed without interruption, creating a musical line that journeyed through time and space.  Or, perhaps it achieved something of universality through its accumulated force.  

Here is a link to the page on the Soundstreams website the sponsors of the concert.  https://soundstreams.ca/events/estonian-philharmonic-chamber-choir-2/.  There is a link on this page also to the full program including notes on the composers and performers.  

Check out the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber choir and the composers of the night's music on your chosen music streaming service.