A guest performance by the Estonian National Male Choir in Latvia is a huge event. It is one of the very few professional male voice choirs in the world and most definitely – the largest one. For many years the name of the choir was closely linked with the legendary symbol of Estonian choral music Gustav Ernesaks, who founded the choir in 1944.
During the sixty years of its existence, the ENMC has given over 6000 concerts in Estonia, the countries of the former Soviet Union, many Western European countries, Israel, Canada and USA. In its productions of extended-form works, the choir works with Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Riccardo Muti, Leif Segerstam, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Gintaras Rinkevičius, Tõnu Kaljuste, et al. In 2004, with Paavo Järvi, the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and the Ellerhein Girls’ Choir, the ENMC won a Grammy Award in the Best Choral Performance category for their recording of Sibelius’ cantatas (Virgin Classics, 2003). During the last five years, the choir has recorded 12 CDs for record labels like Deutsche Grammophon, Sony, Virgin, Finlandia, etc. Between 2005 and 2008, the ENMC was led by the long-time conductor of the Latvian Radio Choir Kaspars Putniņš.
We are happy to welcome the Estonian men in Cēsis, even more so – in a programme complemented by the hope of the younger generation of Latvian professional choral  music, the Riga Dome Boys’ Choir fronted by Mārtiņš Klišāns, one of the principal conductors at the National Song Celebration, an experienced teacher and a sensitive interpreter.