Paul Hillier Conducts the Houston Chamber Choir at South Main Baptist Church Tonight

World-renowned conductor Paul Hillier makes his Houston debut leading the Houston Chamber Choir in passionate music from the Baltic Sea. In the late 1980s, the world watched in admiration as three little Baltic countries overthrew their oppressive Soviet regimes. Throughout their struggle for freedom the Baltic peoples gathered by the thousands to draw strength from choral music in what became known as "The Singing Revolution." We pay tribute to their courage and resolve in a concert of music by Arvo Pärt and his fellow composers from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

A Sea Change | Music of the Baltic Nations
With guest conductor Paul Hillier
Tonight, February 21, 2015, 7:30 pm
South Main Baptist Church
4100 Main Street, Houston, TX 77002

Paul Hillier is a world-renowned and award-winning choral director at the forefront of both early and new music, often combining the two with highly inventive programming across musical periods and cultures. In addition, Mr. Hillier is also an arranger, author, entrepreneur, and an educator. Since the 1970s, Mr. Hillier has built a catalogue of over 100 recordings, released on Harmonia Mundi, ECM, EMI, Finlandia, and Hyperion. Paul Hillier has won two GRAMMY Awards for recordings of Arvo Pärt's Da Pacem (2006) and David Lang's The Little Match Girl Passion (2009).

Composers on this program not only represent each of the three Baltic nations, but have also been celebrated as being amongst the finest choral composers in the world. Highlights of the program include pieces spanning 20 years of Arvo Pärt's career, including his celebrated 1989 setting of the Magnificat; Three Poems by P?teris Vasks, which sets text by Polish-émigré and Nobel prize-winning poet Czes?aw Mi?osz; and "The Stomping Bride" by Vaclovas Augustinas, which calls for members of the ensemble to perform interlocking percussive patterns on various instruments of their own choice. Also on the program are works by Veljo Tormis, Galina Grigorjeva, Rytis Mazulis, and Algirdas Martinaitis. Many of the works presented on the concert have been commercially recorded by Paul Hillier.

TICKETS: Purchase tickets online at www.houstonchamberchoir.org or by calling (713) 224-5566. General admission tickets to this concert are $40 for Adults, $36 for Seniors (65+), and $10 for students (with valid ID).

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