Hingedepäeva Kontsert Tallinna Jaani Kirikus

November 5, 2023 at 17.00 

Conductor: Hirvo Surva
Organ: Ene Salumäe
Estonian National Opera Boys’ Choir

Composer Eduard Tubin showed his esteem for the Requiem: “No other work of Estonian music in this genre can reach the depth of expression of Kreek’s Requiem”.

Cyrillus Kreek (1889–1962) was a composer, pedagogue and a conductor whose Requiem is also the first requiem in Estonian music and is primarily a choral work. The piece was finished in 1927, only a few months before the composer’s 38th birthday. Kreek’s Requiem is based on an Estonian translation of W. A. Mozart’s Requiem by the Baltic-German writer, Schultz-Bertram in 1870. The manuscript includes also a text in Latin, but it was added later and not by Kreek. 

The first performance of Cyrillus Kreek’s Requiem took place at the Estonia Concert Hall on October 20, 1929, the conductor was Juhan Aavik.

Estonian National Opera Boys’ Choir was founded in 1971 by Venno Laul as the boys’ choir of the State Academic Men’s Choir, later also called Estonian Boys’ Choir. In 1997, the choir was adopted by the Estonian National Opera. Since 2001, the choir is led by its chief conductor Hirvo Surva.