Watch: ERSO musicians break several weeks' silence to give online recital
Musicians from the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra (ERSO) gave the bird to the coronavirus pandemic by holding a concert – comprising three performers, who maintained the government's oft-stated requirement that people stay two meters apart at all time – on stage at the Estonia Theater in Tallinn Friday. The concert was livestreamed online.
Violinist Triin Ruubel-Lilleberg, harp soloist Ivan Bragado Poveda, and Cellist Theodor Sink, all from ERSO, performed for just under an hour; the concert was also broadcast on ERR's Klassikaraadio.
According to ETV current affairs show "Aktuaalne kaamera", the trio was somewhat of a return to ERSO's roots, which started with the same number of people.
Triin Ruubel-Lilleberg reflected on the effects of having fundamental freedoms curtailed over the past few weeks.
"I've never been officially forced to stay away from it (performing-ed.) for any length of time," Ruubel-Lilleberg told "Aktuaalne kaamera".
"Three or four weeks, it's been weird. Of course, you're talking to people on the phone and still communicating, but what you're so used to is that [performing] is born impulsively and spontaneously in a space - there was a terrible longing for this," she continued.
The concert's program, which can be viewed on the video link below, was as follows:
- Mozart: String Duo No. 1 in G major for violin and viola, KV 423
(arranged for violin and cello by Johannes Taeg). - Debussy: "Beau soir"
(arranged for violin and harp by Triin Ruubel-Lilleberg and Ivan Bragado Poveda). - Saint-Saëns: Fantaisie for Violin and Harp, Op. 124.
- Debussy: Cello Sonata (Part I)
(piano part played by harpist Ivan Bragado Poveda). - Lepo Sumera: Waltz from the puppet film "Kevadine kärbes".
(arranged for violin and harp by Triin Ruubel-Lilleberg and Ivan Bragado Poveda). - Reynaldo Hahn: "L'enamouree"
(arranged for violin and harp by Triin Ruubel-Lilleberg and Iván Bragado Poveda).
Estonian composer Lepo Sumera (1950-2000) would have celebrated his 70th birthday this month. This is also to be marked on May 8th by ERSO musicians, who will be reprising the "Kevadine kärbes" Waltz via video link. This concert will be free to "attend", those who wish to make a donation to ERSO can do so via their website here.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte