Helitron is a

mixed choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

operating in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

and originally set up to cater to employees of

Tondi Elektroonika Tondi Elektroonika, formerly known as ('Tallinn Semiconductor Resistor Factory'), ('Tallinn Radiotechnical Factory named after Hans Pöögelmann') and ('Hans Pöögelmann Electrotechnical Factory'), as well as Factory A-1381, was a factory for ...

. Of the employment-related choirs established during Soviet occupation of Estonia, Helitron was one of the most famous ones, and is one of the few ones who have outlived the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. A number of people who participated in the

Singing Revolution The Singing Revolution; lv, dziesmotā revolūcija; lt, dainuojanti revoliucija) was a series of events that led to the restoration of independence of the Baltic states, Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania from the Soviet Union a ...

in musical rôles have at some point in their life been involved with Helitron, as either a singer in it, or as a conductor or arranger.

Repertory

The choir has been singing

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

and

religious music Religious music (also sacred music) is a type of music that is performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence. It may overlap with ritual music, which is music, sacred or not, performed or composed for or as ritual. Relig ...

and is also known for its

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

performances. Before the

dissolution of Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

, it also performed Soviet music. On 1 May 1975, Helitron was the first choir to perform Mõistatused (

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...

for ''Puzzles''), an orchestral piece based on Estonian folk songs by

Ester Mägi Ester Mägi (10 January 1922 – 14 May 2021) was an Estonian composer, widely regarded as the First Lady of Estonian Music. Biography Her compositional output is substantial and represents all genres, from chamber and vocal music to choral and ...

. This performance was conducted by .

Conductors

In 1964, Harald-Peter Siiak became the chief conductor of Helitron. In 1998–2004, the chief conductor of Helitron was

Veronika Portsmuth Veronika Portsmuth (born 27 November 1980 in Tallinn, Estonia) is an Estonian conductor and singer. Childhood Portsmuth started singing at the age of 3, when she started as one of the soloists in Ave Kumpas singing studio. During that period ...

.Eesti Kontsert: Abrahami järglased
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References

Estonian musical groups Culture in Tallinn {{Europe-band-stub