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The Heinavanker ensemble began making music together in 1988 in Tallinn, Estonia. The group's name is derived from the famous winged altarpiece of Hieronymus Bosch, which depicts a praying angel and hidden demon vying for possession of the beautiful music atop a hay wagon headed for destruction.

RICHMOND, Ind. — Renaissance works and sacred folk songs will be featured when Heinavanker performs at Earlham College on Wednesday, Oct. 4.

The concert, which is part of the college's Artist and Lecture Series, is also part of Earlham's Invitational High School Festival. The music begins at 7:30 p.m. in Carpenter Hall's Goddard Auditorium on the Earlham campus. Tickets are available at Runyan Center Desk and cost $5 for adults and $3 for seniors and students.

Gregorian chants, early polyphony and Estonian sacred folk songs form the basis of Heinavanker concerts, and the group has been touring extensively since 1996.

"The Estonian religious folk songs or popular chorals originated as a product of the religious renewal of the rural population," according to Margo Kõlar, the group's conductor.

Most of the texts are from The Lutheran Hymnal, but the melodies are embellished so that they are not easily recognized.

Four of the evening's selections are by composer Johannes Ockeghem, whose music is a balance of hidden mathematical constructions and spontaneous melody lines.

"Ockeghem is a composer who brings to completion the musical thoughts of an epoch, leading to a counterbalancing by the following generation who preferred more transparent paths," says Kõlar. "Ockeghem's works make such unusual demands that their performance is considered a test of courage."

Toward the end of the concert, Heinavanker performs a pre-Christian runic song, "Loomiselaul" or "The Creation," which is one of the oldest and most distinctive examples of the Estonian culture.

"It is about a bird that makes a nesting place in a paddock, lays eggs and hatches offspring," explains Kõlar. "One of the baby birds becomes the sun, the second the moon, the third a star and the fourth a rainbow. This vocal tradition possibly dates back many thousands of years."

In addition to the evening concert, members of Heinavanker will conduct an individualized workshop earlier in the day for nearly 200 students from four high schools in Indiana and Ohio.