Ants Üleoja

Ants Üleoja (born 19 November 1936) is an Estonian choral conductor and music educator. An emeritus professor of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, he has worked with professional, academic and amateur choirs and has been a long-standing conductor in Estonia's Song Celebration tradition. Ensembles he has led include the Estonian Television and Radio Mixed Choir, the Estonian National Male Choir, the Tallinn Chamber Choir, the Academic Male Choir of Tallinn University of Technology, the Engineers Male Choir and the Oonurme Mixed Choir.

Early life and education

Üleoja was born on 19 November 1936 in Oonurme, in present-day Ida-Viru County. He studied choral conducting at Tartu Music School under Roland Laasmäe, graduating in 1956, and then continued at Tallinn State Conservatory under Tuudur Vettik, graduating in 1961.

Career

As a student, Üleoja was already active as a conductor, leading the mixed choir of the Ühiselu printing house in 1957. After graduating from the conservatory, he worked as a music teacher at Sindi High School from 1961 to 1962 and at Tallinn Sikupilli High School from 1962 to 1964, then taught choral conducting at Tallinn Music School from 1964 to 1968.

From 1972 to 2012, Üleoja taught choral conducting at Tallinn State Conservatory, later renamed the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. He became a docent in 1979, professor in 1989 and professor emeritus in 2004. His students have included conductors such as Ants Soots, Hirvo Surva, Lauri Breede, Kadri Hunt and Mikk Üleoja.

Üleoja has held a series of important conducting posts in Estonian choral music. He conducted the Tallinn Chamber Choir from 1962 to 1988 and the Eesti Televisioon and Radio Mixed Choir from 1966 to 1990, becoming the latter's principal conductor in 1969. He was principal conductor of the Academic Male Choir of Tallinn University of Technology from 1971 to 1983 and led the Estonian National Male Choir from 1991 to 1997. In 1987 he founded the Engineers Male Choir and continued to direct it for decades. Since 1995 he has also conducted the Oonurme Mixed Choir in his home region.

According to the Estonian Music Information Centre, more than 400 works have been recorded for the Estonian broadcasting archive under Üleoja's direction, including many first performances of works by Estonian composers. His repertory has ranged from a cappella choral music to large-scale vocal-symphonic works, including Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Sibelius's Kullervo, Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex, Handel's Messiah, Bach's Mass in B minor and requiems by Mozart, Brahms, Verdi and Dvořák. He also compiled choral anthologies including Laule segakoorile, Meeskoorilaule and Advendilaulud segakoorile.

Üleoja has been closely associated with the Estonian Song Festival movement for decades. Official festival histories list him among the conductors of the III Youth Song Celebration in 1972, the XIX general Song Celebration in 1980 and the XX general Song Celebration in 1985. In 1990 he served as artistic director of the XXI general Song Celebration. He later returned to the national Song Celebration podium at the XXIV Song Celebration in 2004, the XXV Song Celebration in 2009, the XII Youth Song Celebration in 2017 and the XXVII Song Celebration in 2019.

His work in Oonurme also received national recognition. In 2015 the Oonurme Mixed Choir, which he co-directed with Keio Soomelt, was named one of the Estonian Choral Association's Choirs of the Year.

Honours

In post-independence Estonia, Üleoja received the Cultural Endowment of Estonia's folk-culture annual award in 1996 for his contribution to the development of the Estonian choral movement. He received the Gustav Ernesaks Choral Music Prize in 1998, was awarded the Order of the White Star, 3rd Class, in 2001, and received another Cultural Endowment folk-culture annual award in 2006 for his work as chairman of the Estonian Mixed Choirs' Union music committee. In 2015 he was given the Ida-Viru expert group's lifetime achievement award, and in 2016 he received the Cultural Endowment's national lifetime achievement award for his contribution to Estonian choral music, his long teaching career and his work as a Song Celebration conductor.