Concerto No. 2 "Kltbtne" for Cello and String Orchestra

Tallinn Chamber Orchestra's new album "Pēteris Vasks". The publication contains two string concertos by the Latvian-born composer Pēteris Vasks, the first of which "Concerto No. 2 "Klātbūtne" for Cello and String Orchestra" is a three-part concerto for cello and string orchestra. Marko Ylönen appears as a cello soloist on the recording. Another of the concertos on the album is the four-part "Concerto for Viola and String Orchestra" and has violist Lilli Maijala as the soloist. The orchestra is led by conductor Juha Kangas on the album.
Composer Pēteris Vasks was born in Latvia after World War II, in the small town of Curonian Spit, Aizpute. He played the violin as a child and started composing early in his childhood. After seeing Wagner's Tannhäuser opera in Riga at the age of 13, he moved to the capital to study double bass, but did not get into the Riga Conservatory, as his father was a pastor of a Baptist church. Later, Pēteris studied in Vilnius and worked in Lithuanian and Latvian orchestras. Around that time, he continued to compose, but kept the works to himself until, after starting a family, he enrolled at the Latvian Academy of Music to study composition. He began to gain recognition for his music in the mid-1970s. Pēteris drew his music from the sorrows of the world until, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Latvia was independent again and lightness began to be heard in his compositions again.
The Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, one of the most important orchestras in Estonia, has been around for almost three decades. It was founded by the Estonian conductor, Tõnu Kaljuste, in 1993. The orchestra's well-planned repertoire ranges from baroque works - through classicism and romanticism - to premieres of works by contemporary composers. TKO has toured almost every continent except Australia. It is also one of the performers on Arvo Pärt's 2014 Grammy-awarded album "Adam's lament".
Conductor Juha Kangas, who leads the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, is an experienced musician in a wide range of fields. He studied violin at the Sibelius Academy and worked for five years as the violist of the Helsinki City Orchestra. He worked at the Central Ostrobothnia Music College as a violin pedagogue from 1972 to 1986 and founded the Central Ostrobothnia Chamber Orchestra there. Kangas has been awarded multiple prestigious awards for his work, and in 2010 he received the title of professor.
Cellist Marko Ylönen has worked as a chamber music lecturer at the Sibelius Academy since autumn 2000, and since autumn 2009 he has held the position of professor of chamber music. He achieved good positions in cello competitions at a young age. In his career, Ylönen has performed as a soloist and chamber musician around the world, in addition to which he has worked, among other things, as the conductor of the Tapiola Sinfonietta, the 1st solo cellist of the Radio Symphony Orchestra and a member of the Uusi Helsinki Quartet.

Violaist Lilli Maijala has been actively performing as a soloist and chamber musician on international stages since the age of 17. Having achieved success in international viola competitions, Maijala's playing has been heard with, among others, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Pekka Kuusisto and Pieter Wispelwey in the quartet-lab composition. Nowadays, he spends his time as a viola music lecturer at the Sibelius Academy and performing at European festivals.