Estonian National Opera Boys' Choir
Estonian Male Choirs Association boys' choir KALEV
Revalia Male Chamber Choir
Estonian National Opera Boys' Choir
The Estonian National Opera Boys’ Choir was founded in 1971 as the boys’ choir of the State Academic Men’s Choir. In 1997 the choir was adopted by the Estonian National Opera. For thirty years the choir was directed by its founder, Professor Venno Laul, until the appointment in 2001 of Hirvo Surva as Artistic Director and Main Conductor. The Boys’ Choir functions as a choral studio with three different levels. The main concert choir is supported by two training choirs for the younger boys, so that altogether around 140 talented young singers study vocal music in the choir. The main concert choir works on the principal of a classical mixed choir (men’s and boys’ voices); boys whose voices have broken are encouraged to remain in the choir and carry on singing as tenors and basses. The activity of the choir, including concert tours, singing camps, competitions and other joint activities, has been made possible thanks to the generous support of the Estonian National Opera, of the parents of the singers and of our sponsors.
The choir is justly proud of its role in introducing and promoting Estonian music to audiences both at home and abroad and of its performance of mainstream classical music to the highest professional standard. The choir has been received with acclaim not only in many European countries but also further afield (Canada, the United States, Australia, Japan). Under the baton of conductors of international standing the choir has performed with success in such major works as Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem, Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, Mendelssohn´s Paulus), and many others. For the more talented boys there are exceptional opportunities to sing in operas such as Carmen, Tosca, Othello and others. In 2003 the choir was awarded the I prize at the Choir Competition of Estonian Male Choir´s Association and Llangollen Choir Competation. The boys’ choir took part in a distinguished international choir festival in June 2005, in Czech Republic, Olomounc and won two gold medals.
HIRVO SURVA - the conductor
The Estonian National Opera Boys’ Choir Artistic Director and Main Conductor, Hirvo Surva, was born in Kohtla-Järve (Estonia) in 1963. After graduating from the Georg Ots Music School in Tallinn, he studied conducting with Professor Ants Üleoja at the Estonian Music Academy, where he is now working for a Master’s Degree. Hirvo Surva is the Main Conductor of the Virumaa Boys` Choir, , the Estonian Men’s Choral Society Boys` Choir and the Revalia Male Choir. Since 1993 he has been actively involved in conducting Estonian Song Festivals, assuming the responsibility of Artistic Director for the VIII and IX Youth Song Festivals. Hirvo Surva serves as a board member in the Estonian Men’s Choral Society. From 2002 he has been appointed Chairman of the Estonian Choral Conductors’ Association.
THE ESTONIAN NATIONAL OPERA BOYS` CHOIR
Estonia Avenue 4, 10148 Tallinn, ESTONIA
Artistic Director and Main Conductor
Hirvo Surva
tel. +372 506 4252, E-mail: hirvo@hirvosurva.com
Assistant conductors
Maarja Soone, Andres Lemba
Vocal teacher
Anu Aimla
Conductors of the training choirs
Kaili Lass, Diana Põld
Managing Director
Anne Ojalo
tel. +372 514 7432, E-mail: anne.ojalo@kul.ee
Estonian Male Choirs Association boys' choir KALEV
The choir was established in 1993 by the Estonian Male Choral Society's board member
and conductor Mr. Hirvo Surva. The choir's objective is to gather
together, through open competition, the most talented boy singers in Estonia in
order to give them wider scope to develop. Estonia has a huge number of boys'
choirs of varying sizes and standards, and the opportunity to perform and
train among the best has proved highly motivating. The choir's uniformly
high individual abilities have inevitably resulted in exceptional artistic
attainment. The choir plays an important part in expanding the young
artists' horizons, and music teaching also wins through an invaluable
exchange of experience and information.
During its short nine years the choir has seen a meteoric growth in public
acclaim. At the end of its very first season, the choir sang at an
international contest in Sweden, and won first prize as well as the
special prize. In 1997 the choir was expanded to 100 members by adding men's
voices, which allowed the return of former singers whose voices had broken. Over
300 singers competed for placement. That season was crowned by a concert tour
to Austria and Italy when the choir took the gold medal at the Parma
international contest.
The choir performs regularly at home and abroad. During the 1998/99 season
it came second in a contest organized by the Estonian Male Choral Society.
The season also included the international choirs festival in Turku
Finland, the "Aboa Vetus – Cantus Novus", where alongside choirs from Finland,
Sweden, Germany, Italy and Russia, the Boys' Choir introduced Estonian
music and was highly acclaimed. The 1999/2000 season ended at a Latvian song
festival where they gave many successful concerts.
Several conductors have worked with the choir: Mr. Carl Hogset from
Norway, Mr. Venno Laul, Mr. Veiko Lehto, Mrs. Laine Lehto, Mrs. Alla Eenmaa and
Mr. Peeter Perens jnr. In October 2000 the choir took part in the Carl
Hogset's (Norway) workshop as their study choir. Later they joined the
international festival at Daugavpils, Latvia.
During the two seasons – 2001 and 2002 - the choir has also performed in Vladimir Martõnov's "Apocalypsis" together with the National Male Choir of Estonia, with performances in Moscow, Helsinki and Tallinn. The work is so complex that Martõnov had to spend several years looking for choirs able to perform it. The producer was the legendary Juri Ljubimov, the art director of Taganka Theatre, and the conductor was Andres Mustonen, art director of Hortus Musicus.
In March 2002 the choir participated in festival “Vivat, Peterburg!”
The choir participated in 17th Annual Convention of Association of British Choral Directors in York University in England 23-25 August 2002.
The choir has participated successfully in the International Choral Festival “Tallinn 2001” and “Tallinn 2003”
The choir has participated in diverse projects – oratorio “Pro Patria” by Estonian composer Urmas Sisask (2003); oratorio “Paulus” by F. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (2004); the project “the Ambers of the Baltic” (2005) – it also included a concert tour of the Joint Boys’ Choir of the Baltic states in the capitals of the Baltic states – Vilnius (Sept.14), Riga (Oct.27), Pärnu (Oct.29) and Tallinn (Oct.30)
The chief conductor since inception is Hirvo Surva, and Mr. Indrek Vijard
has conducted in the past three years.
Mrs. Anu Ott and Mrs. Varje Vürst
work as choirmasters and the accompanist is Mrs. Riina Joller.
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Revalia Male Chamber Choir
The Revalia Male Chamber Choir was formed in the autumn of 1998. The choir assembled on the initiative of Hirvo Surva (1963), a long-term conductor of the Revalia Boys' Choir, and the singers of the same boys' choir. The majority of the members of the Revalia Male Chamber Choir are former members of different boys' choirs from all over Estonia. The choir has 30 members with the average age of 25 years.
The main part of the choir's repertoire consists the works by contemporary Estonian composers. It is important for the choir to maintain the diversity of its repertoire, so they perform sacred, secular as well as folk music.
During its history, the choir has participated in several festivals. Already in 1998, we ranked third at the competition organised by the Estonian Male Song Society for male choirs. The choir took the second place at the choir festival Tallinn 2001. Two years later, the choir already earned the first award among male choirs at the festival Tallinn 2003. In 2003 the choir took the first place and Grand Prix at the First British International Male Voice Choral Festival in Cornwall, United Kingdom. In 2005 choir won the first place and Grand Prix at Choral Festival in Klaipeda, Lithuania. In 2006 we participated choral festival "Maribor 2006" in Slovenia.
The choir has participated in performing several big projects: Mass in C by Beethoven; the Symphony of Psalms by Stravinsky; Salve, sidus Polonorum by Gorecki; Pro Patria and Estonian mass by Sisask and Gloria by Rutter.
The concert programme, CD and DVD called "Songs from the Soul", which have born from cooperation with Estonian pop and jazz singer Siiri Sisask, have also been popular. In 2005 the choir released their own CD called "A moment" which contains the repertoire of the recent years.
During eight years the choir has successfully performed in United States of America, United Kingdom, Russia, Sweden, Slovenia, Lithuania and all over Estonia.
In order to recognise the development of the choir, its artistic level and active promotion of male choir music in Estonia and abroad, in January 2004, the Estonian Choral Society named the Revalia Male Chamber Choir the Choir of the Year 2003. The conductor of the choir Hirvo Surva was appointed as the Conductor of the Year to mark his achievements in developing and promoting boys' and male voice singing.
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