ABOUT

Formed in 1996, ensemble VOX CLAMANTIS comprises a diversity of musicians – singers, composers, instrumentalists, and conductors – who have a common interest in Gregorian chant. Alongside Gregorian chant, considered to be the foundation of all European music, Vox Clamantis often performs early polyphony and contemporary music. Many Estonian composers, among them Arvo Pärt, Helena Tulve, Erkki-Sven Tüür, Tõnis Kaumann, and Sven Grünberg, have written compositions for Vox Clamantis.

Vox Clamantis has performed with Catalan soprano Arianna Savall, French pianist Jean-Claude Pennetier, Italian nyckelharpa player Marco Ambrosini, Israeli oud player Yair Dalal, Tunisian singer Dhafer Youssef, the cello octet Amsterdam, the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra. Continuous collaboration with different musicians has inspired the birth of impromptu programmes, based on improvisation.

Vox Clamantis has recorded for ECM Records and Mirare. The CD «Liszt – Via crucis» have won Diapason d’Or award in 2013, the CD «Arvo Pärt – Adam’s Lament» (conductor: Tõnu Kaljuste) has won GRAMMY-Award for Best Choral Performance in 2014. The film featuring Vox Clamantis music, «The Great Beauty» (La Grande Bellezza), received an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. The CD «Arvo Pärt. The Deer’s Cry» (ECM) won a Diapason d’Or Award, Chock in French magazine Classica, the Album of the Year Award in Estonia and was nominated for the BBC Music Magazine Award and the Danish Classical Radio Award 2018. The latest CD «The Suspended Harp of Babel» (ECM) won the best choir album prize in Estonia and was chosen by BBC Music Magazine as one of the best classical albums released in 2020.

The ensemble gives concerts in Estonia as well as abroad. Concert tours have taken Vox Clamantis around the entire world. They have participated in the Sydney Festival, the Hong Kong Arts Festival, RCM’s 21C festival in Toronto, the Manchester International Festival, La Folle Journée Festival in France and Japan, and the International Piano Festival of La Roque d’Anthéron.

In 2017, Vox Clamantis received the National Culture Award of the Republic of Estonia.