The most popular productions this year included Gianluca Schiavoni's ballet "Alice in Wonderland and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker," as well as Jerry Bock's musical "Fiddler on the Roof."

10,544 people visited the opera and ballet houses in the framework of educational projects.

Among the most memorable events of the year were the national opera's guest performances at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow from January 9-12, for which a 300-member troupe traveled to the Russian capital.

On May 24, Leonard Bernstein's legendary musical "West Side Story" premiered at the national opera. For the first time in Estonia, it was possible to hear the musical in Estonian as well as English.

In addition to Tallinn, the national opera also gave performances in Tartu, Paide, Jõhvi, Viljandi, Haapsalu, Pärnu and Rakvere.

New artistic directors this season

At the start of the 114th season this fall, Arvo Volmer took over as the new artistic director and chief conductor of the Estonian National Opera, while Linnar Looris began work as the artistic director of the Estonian National Ballet.

Volmer served as artistic director and chief conductor of the national opera in 2004-2012. He also worked as the music director and chief conductor of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in Australia beginning in 2004.

Looris became a principal dancer with the Estonian National Ballet in 2001. He joined the Birmingham Royal Ballet as a soloist in 2006, and the Houston Ballet in 2007. Since then, he has danced a variety of leading roles.

The Estonian National Opera will send off 2019 with a traditional New Year's Eve ball. Next year's premieres will include "The Count of Luxembourg," an operetta by Franz Lehar, "Anna Karenina," a ballet by Marina Kesler, and "Giovanna d'Arco," an opera by Giuseppe Verdi.

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