Through diverse repertoire, storytelling and imaginative staging, Alta Collective presents a carefully curated concert that invites audiences into a sonic journey across the Baltic landscape.

Set within the evocative Long Room at the Immigration Museum, the program celebrates the enduring relationship between music, nature and cultural inheritance, while highlighting the living, evolving legacy of Baltic choral traditions.

Drawing on the rich choral traditions of the Baltic countries, this concert presents music by Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian and Finnish composers including Veljo Tormis, Laura Jēkabsone and Ēriks Ešenvalds, alongside a world premiere by Latvian Australian composer Aija Draguns, commissioned by Alta Collective.

Estonian composer Veljo Tormis’ Nature Pictures (Looduspildid) anchors the concert, vividly capturing the changing seasons through musical imagery drawn from ancient folk traditions. As Tormis famously said, “I do not use folk song. It is folk song that uses me.”

Jēkabsone’s intricate Latvian harmonies and playful rhythmic motifs, and Ešenvalds’ ethereal sound world shaped by subtle folk influences, further enrich the program, each reflecting a deep connection between music, nature and folklore.

Draguns’ new work takes its inspiration from Mēnessnakts (Moonlit Night), a poem by Latvian writer Aspāzija. Throughout the poem, the moon becomes a steady, consoling presence – dissolving sorrow, softening pain and weaving truth and dreams together in its quiet light. Responding to this imagery, Draguns uses cyclic, folk-like motifs and harmonic patterns to evoke the moon’s constancy and calm, allowing repetition and gentle transformation to shape the musical form. The result is a contemplative and atmospheric work that draws listeners into a space of stillness, reflection and quiet wonder.

Supported by Museums Victoria and Robert Salzer Foundation