Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (April 15, 1998)
6 Estonian conductor shares the gift of music Wednesday, April 15, 1998 Hirvo Surva speaks, and despite his halt ing English and persistent use of the present tense, is a compelling communicator. “It started in 1996 when the Clackamas Community Chamber Choir comes to sing at the Esto song festival, where ev ery two or three years come Estonians from all the world to visit,” he begins simply enough. “’Ninety-six was the first time after the [Russian] occupation.” Already the story gains significance—the scene set is the first Estonian song festival (laulupidu) since the country declared indepen dence. Surva goes on to explain how he heard that there was an American choir singing Esto nian music, and agreed to have his men’s choir house them for an Estonian trip. “For me it’s a neat surprise when I go to the airport and they come on the plane and they first sing in Estonia,” Surva relates, “because I TONI MCMICHAEL / Clackamas Print know that they are for the first time in Europe, Hirvo Surva directs a Clackamas Chamber Singers'rehearsal. and the first country they sing in is Estonia.” Surva was deeply touched by the The conductor has forged a unique bond with our school. Clackamas choir’s interest in his land. “I am very surprised about their interest in Estonia,” he explains, still mys JOEL P. SHEMPERT tified two years later. “I think that group is very different than Staff Writer others were before—different from other Americans. That In a modest conference room within Barlow 240’s office group was very—how do I say it—" labyrinth, a tall 35-year-old man with a high forehead and Surva, unable to find the English words, turns to Raud for deep, thoughtful eyes sits, conversing in an accent which one assistance, and after a rapid-fire Estonian exchange, the young might—quite mistakenly—think is Russian. More astute lis woman takes over from Surva’s thought train: “In Europe we teners may well guess Finnish or Latvian. Few people would have this image of Americans, like a kind of ‘Movie Ameri recognize it as Estonian. can;’ just kind of, ‘Hi, how are you,’ when they don’t actually The man is Hirvo Surva, world-renowned choral conduc care. So the Americans that we met coming into Estonia were tor from the aforementioned European nation across the Bal a bit different. They were interested in other cultures, and tic Sea from Finland and uncomfortably close to former occu they were—" pier Russia. Survo is award-winning, works currently with Here Cline interjects: “—more genuine than you might four choirs in his homeland, and is here for a month of teach think.” ing and conducting with the Clackamas Chamber Singers. In “So they changed your perception of what Americans were,” any case, few Americans have heard of Surva or Estonia. suggests McCue, trying to take it all in. Clackamas Community College, at least, is about to learn. “Yeah,” says Surva, “I meet, before that, Americans Around the conference table, a conversation is taking place. too. . .but this group, there is something more. And—" Surva sits, accompanied by Estonian exchange student Kairi He again turns to Raud for an assist: “—and all the students Raud, (ready to make use of her superior English) and were interested in what he had to show,” she says. Clackamas Conductor Lonnie Cline, awaiting questions from From the unique passion of Clackamas’ students to Estonia’s myself and Clackamas Communications Specialist Dan National Cemetery where all their famous poets, musicians McCue. and writers are buried, the topic eventually turns to the differ I throw out my opening query: “How did you come to be ence in cultural focus between our country and theirs. associated with this choir?” and am treated to a detailed ac “Estonia’s people are fewer than Portland,” explains Surva. count of Surva’s history with our school’s singers. "At this moment we have 52 boy choirs, about a hundred or more girl choirs, about 40 male choirs, about the same num ber of female choirs, and the same number of chamber choirs. . .and it’s amazing that all the people that work in these choirs, they all know each other— all." Also expounded upon is the budding exchange program between Clackamas and Hirvo’s employer, the Georg Ots Music School. Kairi Raud is here because of that fledgling project, by the same token that Clackamas graduate Christo pher Chan is studying at Georg Ots. This, Cline points out, is one reason Surva’s visit is impor tant. “If we’re going to be exchanging students then we need to understand what they bring here.” Thus Cline has studied Estonia’s academic methodology, and Surva now does the same here. This will allow the two schools to integrate more effectively. “You’ve been over here three times now, and why do you keep coming back?” I ask Surva. “What is it that brings you all the way halfway across the world to our college, over and over again?” Surva contemplates this for a moment. “First,” he answers, “to move forward with the mating of the two schools, and to do that which we start. “The other reason,” he continues, “I think it’s because of students in the choir—your chamber choir. I saw the big in terest in our culture, our nation, and we’re very proud of our culture. We are so small, and just a little point in the map, and if they’re interested I think it’s good to give them more of our music, our culture, [for them] to understand it more.” This is work that’s truly never done, for as Surva points out, “in the school they are changed every year, the stu dents, and now there are maybe five who were in Estonia, who saw that. And now there’s new young people, and to show it to them again, maybe it will help them to under stand the music.” There is a third thing on Surva’s mind, revealing what is truly at the bottom of his heart and the fore of his thoughts: “And of course, I think the most important reason is that I have a very good friend now in America,” he says, gazing warmly across the table at Cline, “and we are talking and think ing in very much the same line.” Hirvo Surva’s work with Clackamas’ choir will include a free concert from 12:30-1 pm on April 16 in the college the ater and participation in the ACDA Choral Days in Salem, and will culminate in a farewell concert at 7:30 pm, April 19, also in the theater, $6 for adults and $3 for children and se niors, which will help Surva with travel costs. It is clear that Surva could have saved much expense and effort simply stay ing home, but talking with the man makes it equally clear that here is precisely where he wants to be. Horticulture: what’s blooming in the Native Garden one in particular has long been a favorite of both Native Americans and European settlers. In the 188O’s David Dou glas, an early Northwest botanist, sent a few of these plants This week in the Native Garden there are a few great back to Europe, where it quickly became a landscaping hit. blooms that will easily catch your eye. In front of the Chem Aside from being a visual stimulant, Red-Flowering Cur istry Lab you can hardly miss the Red-Flowering Currant, rant also has a rather long list of uses, both medicinally and Ribes sanguineum. It is a large 8-foot-tall shrub completely as a food source. The berries were harvested, pressed into covered with pink/red flowers. There are several different cakes, dried or dipped in seal grease and eaten by early species of currant here in the Pacific Northwest, but this Native Americans. The berries also contain high amounts of vitamin C and were used by the Brit ish in WWII as a nutritional supplement. As a medicine, this plant has many quali ties. The fresh berries can be applied topi cally to bums or scrapes, and the leaves can be made into a tea to help with ar thritic pains. The roots were also ground up by some Native American tribes and used to treat kidney disorders. As you walk around the garden, you will notice a white flower in full bloom about a foot off the ground. The key character istic of this plant is that all its parts come in threes. Three large leaves sit directly below a single white flower that has three Tuesday, May 12th, 6:30 — 8:00pm petals. This is how the plant earned its Marylhurst College — Administration Building, room 200 name Trillium. Trillium ovatum comes For reservations call 699-6260, or e-mail studentinfo@marylhuist.edu from the Greek word trilix, meaning three. Trilliums are common, though not You can now complete your BS in Management or BA in Organizational necessarily abundant, in our Pacific Communication online at Marylhurst. Designed with working adults in Northwest range. You can find them mind, this program offers a curriculum hanging out in the shady moist under MARYLHURST of real-world skills necessary in today’s story, usually growing at or near the bases COLLEGE competitive workplace. Connect with us. www.marylhurst.edu of older trees or along stream banks. Tril lium does have some medicinal qualities, SLADE SAPORA Contributing Writer Complete Your Bachelor s Degree Online ... Connect with Marylhurst ▼ General Information Session Wednesday, April 15, 1998 Unassuming yet graceful Trillium flowers congregate in Clackamas' Native Garden. such as the prevention of internal bleeding in pregnancy. However, because its populations and habitat have been greatly reduced in recent times, it is best to just look, and not touch this plant. Another interesting ecological fact about this plant is that its seeds are coated with a fleshy, oily skin. This attracts ants, which in turn haul the seeds off to their nests and eat the fleshy, oily coat. Once they are done, they take the leftover seed, haul it out of their nest and dispose of it in one of their ‘garbage dumps.’ This aids the Trillium in the dispersal of its seeds, and it also gives the ants a good meal. Take a walk around the garden and have a look. This is the time of year to keep your eyes open and pay attention to the subtle and spectacular changes taking place around you. Enjoy.
