Estonian Music Days Celebrate Anniversary with a Focus on Monumental Works
The annual Estonian Music Days festival, intended to introduce the latest compositions, begin on Saturday, celebrating its 35th anniversary.
This year's festival, spanning April 5-11, focuses on large scale symphonic works, kultuur.err.ee reported on Thursday.
The festival will open on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Solaris shopping center, at 2 p.m. in Kristiine Keskus shopping center, and at 2.30 p.m. in the Viru Keskus shopping center with a surprise event by several symphonic orchestras.
The opening concert of the festival is the world premiere of Toivo Tulev's monumental piece Lamentations, performed by the Estonian Philharmonic Orchestra and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra. It will be conducted by Daniel Ruess, at 7 p.m. in the Niguliste Church museum.
Other new symphonic works performed include Pressure of Polaris by Märt-Matis Lill, a new version of Déja vu by Mirjam Tally, Helena Tulve's Heartland, and many others.
In addition to new monumental works, classical pieces by Heino Eller, Eino Tamberg, Arvo Pärt, Raimond Kangro, Erkki-Sven Tüür, Gustav Ernesaks and Eugen Kapp will also be performed.
“Estonian composers rarely get the chance to write works for symphonic lineups, let alone getting the opportunity to perform so many of them at one festival,” artistic directors Timo Steiner and Ülo Krigul said.
On Friday, April 11, the laureates of the traditional Estonian Music Days awards will be announced.
Concerts will held in several venues around Tallinn, including the Estonia concert hall, Niguliste church, Sea Plane Harbour, and Kanuti Gildi Saal.
The full program is available on the festival's website.