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Three Estonian choirs visited the Estonian pavilion at the Shanghai EXPO

06.08.2010

Three choirs from Estonia visited the Estonian pavilion at the Shanghai EXPO within the space of just two days.

The Turba Upper Secondary School Girls’ Choir along with their conductor Iveta Jürisson and school headmaster Viktor Juhanson arrived in Shanghai on 21 July. Since the choir was scheduled to stay in Shanghai for only half a day, the Estonian pavilion’s Programme Director Anneli Vilu started off the brief visit by giving the singers a tour of the city. The choir arrived at the Estonian pavilion in the early evening. After some vocal exercises, it was time for a concert in the open area of the pavilion. The choir performed a half-hour programme of Estonian songs for an audience of about two hundred people. The visitors especially enjoyed folk songs accompanied by dancing, such as “Need kosjad tulid saarest” (Suitor from the Island), “Me lähme rukist lõikama” (We’re off to Harvest Rye), and “Oige ja vasemba” (Right and Left).

After the performance, the singers sat down for a small get-together with the pavilion staff in the seminar room. The choir’s performance of the song “Ta lendab mesipuu poole” (Flying Towards the Beehive) at the end of the visit was a moving experience both for the Estonians working in China as well as the members of the choir, since it was the last performance with this group for several of the girls.

The ETV Children's Choir along with its director Eve Viilup and conductor Lii Leitmaa visited the EXPO in the morning of 22 July. The children’s performance took place on the large stage of the EXPO Europe Square. Despite the 35-degree heat and scorching sun, the singers performed a lively programme that included dances and were met with much enthusiasm and rewarded with plenty of applause by the Chinese audience.

After resting for a while in the Estonian pavilion, the choir headed off sightseeing tour of the neighbouring Latvian and Finnish pavilions.

The European Capital of Culture Mixed Choir and its conductor Veronika Portsmuth arrived at the EXPO in the evening of 22 July. Their arrival was an important event for the pavilion staff, since it is the European Capital of Culture Mixed Choir that performs the songs on the background video shown at the daily choir karaoke event “Singing Saturdays”. As a result, their singing and faces have become a familiar part of our daily routine.

The choir had a tight schedule that began with their active participation in the “Singing Saturdays” event, this time among the crowd, rather than just on screen. After this, the choir gave a small pre-concert performance to the pavilion staff and then headed off to the large stage in Europe Square. The actual concert consisted of a demanding programme that lasted for almost an hour and included Estonian music, European classics, as well as more experimental pieces composed of speech and animal sounds. The choir’s lively performance and joy of singing rubbed off on the audience and made them clap and dance along with the songs.

All three choirs came to Shanghai after attending the 6^th World Choir Games held in Shaoxing, China. The choirs won a number of prizes at the event, including two gold diplomas awarded to the European Capital of Culture Mixed Choir and the silver medal awarded to the Turba Upper Secondary School Girls’ Choir. The ETV Children's Choir even received the grand prize in their category.