More than 15 years togetherThe choir was formed by us when, after years spent working together in the chamber choir of the Sibelius High School, we felt we wanted to go on singing with one another after we left school. We all shared a clear objective: to develop into the best possible choir. Many high-acclaimed performances and competition prizes have strengthened our belief that we can make this dream come true.
The songs on this disc were made to measure for us - some by own member. Jussi Chydenius was the first choir member we asked to compose something for the choir's 10th anniversary concert and he duly presented us with Blue Magic and Driven by desire. They seemed to fit the choir extremely well from the very start, both in their musical ambiance and their mood. The same powerful atmosphere is present in Essi Wuorela's Sweet Dreems, written in our 15th anniversary year. A composition competition we held before our gala concert in spring 2006 yielded Ilkka Kuusisto's From the songlands, Erkki Nurminen's The bear's songs and Pekka Kostiainen's Waiting for the bride. It's been wonderful to incorporate these competition entries in our regular repertoire. The most recent addition is Virpi Eroma's Heart, likewise written for the gala concert. Virpi's arrangement of the song from Lasse Mårtenson's The Storm Islands has aroused strong sentiments both at home and abroad, as has Saima Hyökki's arrangement of Sulho Ranta's beautiful A folk song. For our concert tour to Buenos Aires at Christmas 2006 we expanded our repertoire with a passionate tango in an arrangement for the choir by Jarkko Riihimäki.
-Marjukka Riihimäki-
Translation Susan Sinisalo
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