Una Corda & Kadri Voorand • Lossimuusika

Sunday, January 22, 2026 at 6 p.m. 
Kadriorg Palace / Kadriorg Art Museum 

PALACE MUSIC

Kadri Voorand - vocal

Program:

Georg Jakob Salumäe (2006) „Silmavees” (2025) for Una Corda

Sacred folksong „Mu süda, ärka üles” / "O My Heart Awake From Sleep", arr. Cyrillus Kreek (1889-1962) / Kadri Voorand (1986) 

Age Veeroos (1973) „Vesi” / "Water"  (2025) for harpsichord and geofoonic soundscape

Mingo Rajandi (1980) „My River Runs To Thee” (2024/2025) for Una Corda

Kadri Voorand „You Look Into My Eyes” (2025) for Una Corda

Mirjam Tally (1976) „Voolujoon” / "Streamline" (2012) for Una Corda

Sacred folksong „Süda, mis Sa muretsed” / "Heart, Why Do You Worry?", arr. C. Kreek / K. Voorand

Kadri Voorand is an Estonian singer-songwriter whose unique blend of traditional music, folk, jazz, and improvisational pop and unique storytelling abilities make her one of the most authentic live performers in Europe’s jazz scene today.

Hailing from a fishing village in Northern Estonia, on the shores of the Gulf of Finland, Kadri Voorand was born into a family of generations of traditional musicians and entertainers at village gatherings. From an early age, she was introduced to coastal folk traditions, studying classical piano by day and playing the fiddle by night.

After a childhood spent playing with folk musicians, arranging for her vocal a cappella group, and performing as a solo vocalist, she began her jazz vocal studies at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theater and continued her education at the Royal Swedish Music Academy. She has won nearly every award imaginable in Estonia, including four Estonian Music Awards, and collaborated with a range of internationally acclaimed musicians, including the renowned conductor and composer Kristjan Järvi and pop artists like NOËP.

She is the founding member, artistic director, and main composer of Estonian Voices, an acclaimed a cappella group whose two albums have each won an Estonian Music Award.

She has composed for the Grammy-winning Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, creating both the music and libretto for “Giving Myself to the Sea,” a piece inspired by Estonian legends and folk traditions, and is among the most performed contemporary composers at the Estonian Song and Dance Celebration. Since 2020, she has been signed to one of Europe’s most important jazz labels, ACT.

Kadri Voorand is a musical storyteller who likes to engage her listeners and make them a part of the performance, with Jazzwise describing her audiences “hanging on her every note”. Her highly engaging, ritualistic and intimate live shows, often alongside bassist Mihkel Mälgand, transcend language barriers and have led her to stages from the EFG London Jazz Festival to Pori Jazz and the most important jazz festival in China, the Beijing Nine Gates Jazz Festival.

UNA CORDA (https://unacorda.net/) is an ensemble with a unique composition that includes three similar, but at the same time different multistring instruments - kannel, harp and harpsichord. The program includes original works by composers Mingo Rajandi, Age Veeroos, Mirjam Tally and Georg Jakob Salumäe created especially for this occasion. Together with the ensemble, the always bright vocal virtuoso Kadri Voorand takes the stage, with whom Kadri's creations as well as free improvisations born on the spot will be performed.

The sound of Una Corda may be described as an intimate and delicate colour palette, brightened up by more powerful accents and images. The harpsichord provides a rhythmical impulse and density; the long reverberation of the kannel adds an ethereal quality and brilliance to the upper register, while the harp with its deep low sounds and round timbre complements them.

The repertoire of the ensemble is versatile, with programmes including original music by renowned composers as well as arrangements and even free improvisation. The ensemble has commissioned and performed works by various Estonian composers: Helena Tulve, Tatjana Kozlova-Johannes, Märt-Matis Lill, Liis Jürgens, René Eespere, Margo Kõlar, Kristjan Kõrver, Elo Masing, Malle Maltis, Mirjam Tally, Lauri Jõeleht, Ülo Krigul, Robert Jürjendal and others. The trio has also made new arrangements of compositions by Ester Mägi, Raimo Kangro, Arvo Pärt, Jaan Rääts and other composers. Since 2015, the ensemble has been exploring the world of free improvisation, also including it in their concert programmes.

Una Corda’s first public concert took place on February 14, 2009 in the Kadriorg Palace in Tallinn, organised by the Estonian Association of Professional Musicians. Since then the ensemble has performed at several music festivals in Estonia, including the Estonian Music Days and Tallinn Music Week. The members also promote their instruments and Estonian music through the ensemble’s lecture-concerts in Estonia and abroad (Sydney Estonian House in Australia, Nostalgia Festival in Poznań, Poland; Estonian School in Stockholm, Sweden).

Outside Estonia, the ensemble has performed at the contemporary harpsichord music festival ProCembalo in Italy (2013), Nordlichter Festival in Berlin (2014), Global Harp Congress in Sydney (2014), alternative chamber music festival Sansusī in Latvia (2017), Nostalgia Festival in Poznań, Poland (2014) and in 2012 at Mirjam Tally’s composer’s evening in Visby, Gotland.

Una Corda has also cooperated with contemporary dance choreographers. In 2009, the ensemble participated as musicians and dancers in the performance Opus tempus (music by Monika Mattiesen, choreographers Mari Mägi and Kaja Lindal). In 2018, in cooperation with the Kadriorg Art Museum they performed in the dance production Metamorphoses of Beauty (choreographer Maria Goltsman), where the music was born from real-time improvisation.

In cooperation with the Estonian Classical Radio, the ensemble has recorded plenty of music for the music fund of Estonian Public Broadcasting. In 2012, the ensemble issued their debut album Una Corda. Their second album Voolujoon/Streamline was released  in 2022 and was chosen as Chamber Music Album of the Year and a nominee for Classical Album of the Year in Estonia.

Ensemble Una Corda received music endowments´ annual award 2019 of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia (Eesti Kultuurkapital).