Estonian choir's concert series focuses on life, work of poet Lydia Koidula

130 years following her death, the award-winning Youth Mixed Choir Vox Populi will be giving a short series of concert-lectures dedicated to the life of the famous Estonian poet Lydia Koidula at schools and cultural centers across the country in an alternative to more typical holiday-themed Advent-season performances.
Titled "My Fatherland is My Love" ("Mu isamaa on minu arm"), after Koidula's perhaps most famous work, the concert-lecture series is the result of collaboration between the Estonian Society for Music Education, musicologist Tiia Järg, the Youth Mixed Choir Vox Populi and singing and choral conducting students from Tallinn Music High School.
According to conductor Janne Fridolin, the concert-lecture series, which includes information about the life of the Estonian poet paired with the works of various composers who have set her words to music over the past century, is educational for the choir singers and listeners alike. "It is noteworthy that the concerts have ended up scheduled for December, as Christmas Eve is Lydia Koidula's birthday," the conductor highlighted about the short tour. "One concert will be in Koidula's birthplace, Vändra, as well."
This concert, which took place at Vändra Cultural Center on Thursday afternoon, was already the second of the six performances, following immediately on the heels of the first concert earlier that morning at Kose Cultural Center, however anyone interested can plan ahead and still catch one of the four remaining concerts of the series:
Tuesday, Dec. 6 — Paide High School, 10 a.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 6 — Võru Kreutzwald School, 3 p.m.
Monday, Dec. 12 — Keila School, 10:15 a.m.
Monday, Dec. 12 — Lääne County Joint High School, 3:30 p.m.
The Youth Mixed Choir Vox Populi, which celebrated its 10th anniversary this year with a festive concert titled "Nüüd ep on ilus elada!" at the Tallinn Creative Hub in October, will finish up its birthday year with a more traditional Christmas concert on Saturday, Dec. 10 at St. John's Church in Tallinn.
Editor: Editor: Aili Vahtla