Stockholm School of Economics in Riga Students' Magazine

Have you ever been at school in the evening, trying to do your assignments or write the report, and thinking, why some weird musical sounds are coming out of Soros? Well, that was the SSE Riga choir rehearsal. Yes, there are some people here who, apart from business, economics and finance, are interested in choir singing! The SSE Riga choir members truly love to sing and have fun being together.  Besides, they not only tediously rehearse each Monday and Thursday – they participate in competitions and perform abroad. Every year SSE Riga choir performs several concerts in Latvia and has the unique Choir Camp in Apsuciems! Some say that the choir camp is some sort of magic – no one knows when the tradition of it started, but it goes on and on... So, on October 9, around 30 singers left again to rehearse and party for the weekend in Apsuciems. After about an hour of driving, we reached the destination – an old building just some 50 metres away from the sea, which was used to be a school (I felt envious to pupils who could enjoy school breaks on the beach) but now is transformed into a kind of a hostel.  We settled in, put our bags in our very warm rooms, and got involved in the evening games, which were real fun! As there were quite a lot of new people to the camp and also to the choir, we spent some time socializing and getting to know each other better.

Early Saturday morning (10 o’clock for SSE students – early indeed) – the rehearsing starts. The conductors introduced a few new pieces of music, and all of us got looking into the notes. We practised various songs ranging from moving Latvian folk-rock to some modern classical pieces, most of which are sung a cappella (without accompaniment). After some 5 hours of singing, the choir finally had diner, and afterwards we went to walk along the beach. There some singers, including both conductors, Elina and Lauris, got involved in playing volleyball. The game was really exciting – especially when someone had to rescue the ball falling into the cold sea water... Later in the afternoon we continued singing, while after the evening meal, the newcomers to the camp started to prepare for their mandatory evening performance – something to introduce themselves and to entertain the choir veterans .This time the performance was really creative – we prepared the “dance of little people”! After that, the evening continued with pleasures of sauna heat, followed by jumping into the sea, watching football (Latvia: Greece – 5:2...), singing, dancing, playing games... Well, sleep was definitely not in the agenda of the night!

Sunday morning. Although with tired and sleepy voices, we gathered for another rehearsal.  Before that, however, we needed to wake up fully. So, girls actively involved in doing exercises according to the music, with some men shyly joining in. Afterwards we were singing again, whereas men discovered some great features of the electronic keyboard and tried to compose pieces of music. Around lunch, there was already time to leave- happy and full of experiences to share we went home, back to routine, and some of us - to prepare for the exams on Monday... 

For those of you who haven’t heard much about the choir –it was born on August 30, 1994 when 30 students and faculty members of the newly established Stockholm School of Economics in Riga gathered for the first rehearsal. Since then SSE Riga choir has been performing a wide scope of repertoire – ranging from folk songs to classical masterpieces as well as songs of contemporary composers of Baltic countries. The concerts have been performed not only in Latvia but also in Lithuania, Estonia, Italy, Austria, Greece, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden and elsewhere. The choir is lead by two charming conductors – Elina and Lauris, and has around 40 members, 12 of whom are current SSE Riga students. This year the choir has already performed in Latvian National Museum during the book opening ceremony and in the SSE Riga anniversary event.  The choir’s goal for this year is the choir competition in Prague at the end of November, for which the singers are preparing an ambitious repertoire.

If you’re interested to see some of the choir’s performances, type SSE Riga Choir in the Youtube!

By Lauryna Genyte