Maria Raak w castagnets. Photo by Ats Vooglaid

There has been several live concerts with the dance project this summer but the one in the Meder’s hall in Tallinn is again something to talk about. It was organized by the Estonian National Concert and the hall is a special venue that they discovered and restored recently.

The hall is in the building of a school that is one of the oldest in Estonia if not THE oldest – Gustav Adolf’s Gymnasium. The history of this school starts in 1629. I think the building was actually meant for this school or maybe the house was there before but the fact is that this school has been working in the same house all the time!

The famous German baroque composer Johann Valentin Meder was born a little later – 1649. He lived and worked in Tallinn for some years: from 1674 to 1683 he was Kantor at the Gymnasium at Reval (that is our Tallinn nowadays!). So it is ok to name a hall by him. Infact this is a perfect hall for chamber music and baroque music. The old city of Tallinn is a special place in many ways but this hall suits well even for the guitar!

I have been playing in that hall with other programs and have organized guitar concerts by other players, too (Paul Galbraith and Benjamin Verdery played there). One thing is a good acoustics for the guitar but another thing is the proper environment for the dancer! Yes – this concert was again with a live dancer! Maria Rääk from Amargo has now done the choreography for some other dances besides Asturias, too.

Malaguena still goes with castagnets but now also with some dance. We have added some Sevillanas to the program that are not on the original CD. Fandanguillo has castagnets and handclapping and Danza brasileira has the shaker egg.