WIDMUNG / DEDICATION
Wednesday, August 26 at 19:00 Swedish St Michael’s Church
Rüütli 9, Tallinn
Heldur Harry Põlda (tenor), Marite Männi (piano)
Robert Traksmann (violin), Linda-Anette Verte (violin)
Laur Eensalu (viola), Theodor Sink (cello)
Programme:
Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
„Widmung“ op 25 nr 1 / „Dedication“ for piano
Edvard Grieg (1848–1907)
„Bryllupsdag på Troldhaugen“ op 65 nr 6
/ „Wedding Day at Troldhaugen“
„Jeg elsker dig!“ op 41 nr 3 / „I Love Thee“
„En Drøm“ op 48 nr 6 / „A Dream“
Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
“In der Fremde” (Liederkreis, Op 39)
„Widmung“ op 25 nr 1 / „Dedication“ for tenor and piano
String Quartet No 1 in A minor op 41
I Andante espressivo – Allegro
II Scherzo: Presto
III Adagio
IV Presto
HELDUR HARRY PÕLDA graduated from Tallinn Music High School in the field of choral conducting (teacher Hirvo Surva) and in the fall of 2019 he received his bachelor’s degree in vocal studies from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in the vocal class of David Pollard and Ruby Philogene. H. H. Põlda made his singing debut at the Estonian National Opera at 8 years old. Today, the young man’s repertoire includes several opera and musical roles. In the first half of 2019, H. H. Põlda performed the role of Tony in Estonian National Opera’s production “West Side Story” and since August of 2019, he has been a scholar of Estonian National Opera, performing different roles including Ivan Lykov (“The Tsar’s Bride”), Armand (“The Count of Luxembourg”), Gaston (“La traviata”) and Ruiz (“Il trovatore”). For the main role of Benjamin Britten’s chamber opera “The Turn of the Screw”, H. H. Põlda was awarded by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia as the youngest laureate of the Sound Art Endowment Award (2008), the young man is also a laureate of the Estonian Choral Association’s Cooperation Prize (2010) and he has been awarded with the scholarship of Estonian National Culture Foundation’s Georg Ots Foundation (2013).
ROBERT TRAKSMANN started playing the violin at the age of 4 under the guidance of teacher Tiiu Peäske. He graduated from Tallinn Music High School (2014, Tiiu Peäske) and the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music Berlin with a Bachelor’s degree (2018, Prof. Kolja Blacher), where he is currently pursuing a Master’s degree under the supervision of the same lecturer. He has completed several masterclasses (Ulrike Danhofer, Florian Donderer, Arvo Leibur, Jüri Gerretz, Robert Rozek and Ivry Gitlis). R. Traksmann has also joined the ranks of several prestigious groups, including Gürzenich Orchester Köln, Orchester der Karajan Akademie Berliner Philharmoniker, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Estonian Festival Orchestra, Vox Clamantis, YXUS and others. As a concertmaster, he has performed with several youth orchestras, as well as at the Vanemuine Symphony Orchestra’s season opening concert (2018). Since 2019, R. Traksmann has been a member of the Association of Estonian Professional Musicians. He has performed as a soloist with the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, German Youth Symphony Orchestra (Tübingen), Pärnu City Orchestra, Virumaa Chamber Orchestra, Haapsalu Festival Orchestra, TMHS String Orchestra and Symphony Orchestra. The most dignified of the competition results is the 1st prize at the Pärnu Violin Competition (2010) together with the special prizes of the Pärnu City Orchestra and Tubin Society. The year 2019 is marked by performances as a soloist at the Baltic Sea Festival in Berwaldhallen in Stockholm, the Mozartiana Festival in Gdansk and the XXVII Estonian Song Celebration. As an active chamber musician, he has had the longest collaboration in the ensemble Trio ’95 with Rasmus Andreas Raide and Marcel Johannes Kits. He has performed in the most important concert halls in Estonia and won awards at several festivals. Trio ’95 has won the First Prize at the international Ilmari Hannikainen Piano Chamber Music Competition in Finland (2020) and the international competition “Pavasario Sonata” in Lithuania (2012). Together they have furthered their skills with Francis Gouton and Alexander Bondurianski. R. Traksmann has been given a violin, made by Giuseppe Gagliano and his brother Antonio (1775-1780) and a bow by Joseph Artur Vigneron (1890), for use by the Estonian Foundation of Musical Instruments.
LINDA-ANETTE VERTE began violin studies at the age of 4 with Tiiu Peäske. In 2012, she graduated from Tallinn Music High School (Ivi Tivik, Prof. Mari Tampere-Bezrodny). In 2016, L.-A. Verte graduated from the Sibelius Academy with a Bachelor’s degree. In addition, she has furthered her skills as an exchange student in Los Angeles at the University of Southern California (Thornton School of Music, Prof. Pamela Frank). She was the concertmaster of Vanemuine Symphony Orchestra between 2016-2019. L.-A. Verte has taken part in numerous festivals and competitions in Estonia as well as abroad and she has been awarded with several prizes: 2nd prize at the Estonian String Players Competition and spezial prize for Tõnu Kõrvits’ “Elegy to Solitude” (2015), the laureate title with Sten Heinoja at the I Estonian Piano Chamber Music Competition (2015), Classical Radio award and a special prize for the best performance of Vienna Classic (2015). She was also a participant of the TV competition “Classical Stars” in 2018. L.-A. Verte has performed as a soloist in Russia, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, the United States, Germany and Ukraine and appeared as a soloist with ENSO, Vanemuine Symphony Orchestra, Pärnu City Orchestra, Estonian Academy of Music and Theater Symphony Orchestra, Sibelius Academy Symphony Orchestra, Haapsalu Chamber Orchestra, New Street Orchestra and Kyiv Soloists and cooperated with conductors including Paul Mägi, Jüri Alperten, Mikk Murdvee, Kaspar Mänd, Atso Almila, Rasmus Puur, Erki Pehk. L.-A. Verte has furthered her skills at numerous masterclasses including Michael Vaiman, Päivyt Meller, Anna-Liisa Bezrodny, Pavel Berman, Henry-David Varema, Oleg Krõssa, Oliver Charlier, Sergei Kravtšenko, Jessica Linnebach, Mi-kyung Lee, Cho-Liang Lin and Midori Goto. In the 2015/2016 season, she played as an intern in the Canadian National Arts Center Orchestra. In 2017, a poetry book / CD was published, on which there are works for solo violin and Harriet Toompere reads poems in between.
LAUR EENSALU has studied violin and viola at the Tallinn Music High School (Tiiu Peäske), the Karlsruhe College of Music (Fabio Marano) and the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (Viljar Kuusk, Toomas Nestor). Since 2005, he has been working with the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, since 2011 as the concertmaster of the viola group and since 2007 with the Estonian National Opera Symphony Orchestra. As a soloist, ensemble and orchestra musician, he has recorded and premiered works by several contemporary Estonian and foreign composers and performed in many parts of the world.
THEODOR SINK is a versatile performer who works as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestra musician. His cello teachers have been Laine Leichter, Leho Karin and Henry-David Varema, Marko Ylönen at the Sibelius Academy, and he has won numerous laureate titles at both national and foreign competitions. He has played as a member of the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, the Nordic Symphony Orchestra and the Estonian Festival Orchestra, and since the 2017/18 season he has been the concertmaster of the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra’s cello group. He has previously collaborated with ENSO as both a group player and a guest concertmaster. As a soloist, T. Sink made his debut in front of ENSO in the spring of 2017, performing Erkki-Sven Tüür’s Cello Concerto at the Estonian Music Days symphony concert. At the opening concert of the 2018/19 season, he performed Haydn II Cello Concerto conducted by Neeme Järvi. In 2017, T. Sink was awarded the Annual Award of the Estonian Cultural Endowment’s Sound Art Endowment for a brilliant season as a soloist and orchestra musician. T. Sink is a member of the Association of Estonian Professional Musicians.