Pure Gold

PURE GOLD CONCERT SERIES
A selection of masterpieces from the treasury of classical music

The series opening concert is dedicated to the beautiful sound of string instruments. Joining ERSO on stage is Candida Thompson – Artistic Director of the Amsterdam Sinfonietta and one of today’s most brilliant leaders in string and chamber music.

The evening opens with Igor Stravinsky’s virtuosic and rhythmically vibrant Concerto in D for string orchestra. In Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s double concerto, the Sinfonia Concertante, Thompson performs as a soloist alongside the talented young Estonian violinist Triinu Piirsalu. The second half of the concert features one of the most beloved works in classical music, Mozart’s Symphony No. 40. Audiences can look forward to the excitement of the orchestra performing without a conductor, as Candida Thompson takes on the dual role of soloist and concertmaster.

In February, Tallinn welcomes a true legend of early music, musicologist, and radical innovator of performance art, Reinhard Goebel. He is the man who proved to the world that 300-year-old music can sound modern, spirited, and fresh. Goebel has curated an captivating program for ERSO centered on Johann Sebastian Bach and his four sons: Wilhelm Friedemann, Carl Philipp Emanuel, Johann Christoph Friedrich, and Johann Christian. Each of these “young” Bachs was a distinct and outstanding composer in his own right, whose works reveal the diverse facets of beauty within Baroque and pre-Classical music.

In April, Swiss conductor Mario Venzago returns to Tallinn. He is widely recognized for his sensitive interpretations of Romantic music and his ability to offer fresh insights into symphonic masterpieces. At the heart of the concert is Venzago’s own realization of Franz Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony, a version that has sparked both excitement and discussion in the musical world. The conductor created a complete vision of the work by incorporating Schubert’s incidental music for the play Rosamunde. The program also features another monumental and colorful opus – Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra, where every section of the orchestra takes a turn in a demanding soloist role.

The season culminates in May with a grand final concert conducted by ERSO’s Chief Conductor Olari Elts, featuring Joseph Haydn’s magnificent oratorio The Seasons.
Created in the spirit of the Enlightenment, this work is a hymn to the harmony between man and nature. It paints vivid musical landscapes and describes the joyful side of everyday life, from folk dances to seasonal festivities. In The Seasons, the aging master Haydn saw a parallel between the cycle of nature and the human life cycle: spring symbolizes birth, summer represents youth, autumn signifies maturity, and winter depicts old age, followed by eternal life. The performance features a brilliant ensemble of soloists and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir.

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