Schönberg series. OPUS MIRUM. Kai Kallastu (soprano), Andrus Kallastu (electronics)

PROGRAMME

Sohrab Uduman (1962)
Cassandra for voice and tape 1992

Hans-Gunter Lock (*1974)
Cassandra kaja for tape 2010

Sven Sosnitski (1987)
Kauge maa laul for soprano and electronics 2015 (text by Lord Byron)

Kai Kallastu, soprano
Andrus Kallastu, electronics

The myth of Cassandra is a vivid example of a woman's fall down the social ladder and of the dissolution of her personality. The daughter of Priam, King of Troy, loved by the god Apollo, becomes Agamemnon's trophy of war, an immigrant against her will, who must prophesy disaster and ruin to deaf ears and who is finally murdered. Sohrab Uduman's “Cassandra” tells of Cassandra as a prophet of misfortune hated by the people, who, carrying out her mission, or rather her programme, in harsh conditions, seems to lose her connection with the outside world and even with herself.

Hans-Gunter Lock composed the tape work Cassandra kaja at the request of Pärnu Opera for Suveaaria 2010, as interlude music between Sohrab Uduman's Cassandra and Jürg Wüttenbach's “Encore!”.

Sven Sosnitski's Kauge Maa Laul is based mainly on the English poet Lord Byron's poem Darkness. In the distant future our dying sun has made life on earth impossible. The last human being looks up in the midst of the void to speak a few last words.

Soprano Kai Kallastu earned a master's degree as a classical singer at Metropolia University in Helsinki, Finland, and has taken part in numerous masterclasses. She has performed as a chamber singer, a soloist in large-scale works and a music theatre artist with various ensembles and in various countries. Her repertoire ranges from the Renaissance to contemporary music, and she has given the first performances of experimental vocal works by several composers. Intensive creative work connects her with her husband, the composer and conductor Andrus Kallastu, with whom she has performed dozens of vocal programmes. kallastu.ee

Composer and conductor Andrus Kallastu studied at the Tallinn Conservatoire (now the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre) and at the Sibelius Academy, and has worked freelance since 2000. Several of Kallastu's works speak of an interest in combining music with other art forms and in performance. Kallastu's interest as a performer and as artistic director of projects is often connected with music theatre. Besides traditional music theatre work, his aim is to develop specific areas of music theatre: mystery-like church composition and the visualised concert.

Partners
Estonian Arnold Schönberg Society
OPUS MIRUM
Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre
Baltic Film, Media and Arts School of Tallinn University
Pärnu Opera
Autorfest
Estonian Centre of Contemporary Music (ECCM)
Tallinn Music City
Cultural Endowment of Estonia
City of Pärnu

Tickets
Regular ticket 20.00 euros
Concession ticket (dependants and pensioners) 10.00 euros
Student ticket (pupils and students) 5.00 euros

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