While culture minister Tõnis Lukas (Isamaa) said Wednesday that restrictions on large gatherings (in excess of 100 people) the government has put in place need not apply to cultural events, ERSO has announced that all its concerts through to March 20 are canceled.

ERSO

The first concert to be hit was a daytime performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade", featuring soprano Elina Nechayeva, which was limited to 100 attendees and live-streamed via the orchestra's Facebook page.

Scheduled concerts in Võru on March 13 and in Cesis, Latvia the day after, as well as a performance of Dvorak pieces, conducted by Leon Botstein (U.S.) at the Estonia concert hall in Tallinn on March 20 are all canceled.

The Võru and Cesis programs will be live streamed by ERSO from the Estonia concert hall on Friday, March 15, where the orchestra is joined by pianist Andrejs Osokins and conductor Kaspar Mand.

Those who have bought tickets to affected performances can exchange them for later ERSO performances this season or the next. More precise information will soon appear on ticketing websites Piletlevi and Piletimaailm, BNS reports. The ERSO site is here.

Eesti Kontsert

Eesti Kontsert has cancelled all major concerts and foreign guest concerts through to the end of March, including those in Tallinn, the Vanemuine Theater in Tartu, and the Jõhvi and Pärnu concert halls.

"The health of our audiences, performers and members of staff is paramount to us, so today we made the decision to cancel all concerts in our larger halls through to the end of this month. We will naturally buy back tickets already sold, but please see our website and our Facebook page," said Kertu Orro, the head of Eesti Kontsert.

The Estonia Concert Hall (Eesti kontsertisaal, not to be confused with the Estonia theater) will also be closed until March 31, and concerts at other Tallinn venues including the Alexela Concert Hall on Estonia pst. 9 are also affected. 

Eesti Kontsert has also canceled all school concerts nationwide through to April 1.

The affected events, according to ERR's culture portal, are:

• Tartu on March 13, Tallinn March 14: Madeleine Bell (USA) and Concertgebouw (Netherlands) concerts "Tribute. Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder" .
• Estonia Concert Hall, March 17: Concert series "Like an Interpreter" (Robert Traksman, violin, Marcel Johannes Kits, cello, Rasmus Andreas Raide, piano).
• Estonia Concert Hall, March 18: Concert series "Southern Romance" and the concert "Russian Romance". Priit Volmer (bass, Estonian National Opera), René Soom (baritone, Estonian National Opera), Jaanika Rand-Sirp (piano).
• Jõhvi Concert Hall, March 19: Concert series "As an Interpreter" and concert "Bowing to Georg Ots" (Mati Turi, tenor, Martti Raide, piano).
• Pärnu Concert Hall, March 20, Vanemuine Concert Hall, Tartu, March 21 and Jõhvi Concert Hall, March 23: "Entel-tentel 50" concert.
• Alexela Concert Hall, March 21: Moscow Helikon-Opera Concert Performance "Mr. Georg Ots".
• University of Tartu, March 28, and Estonia Concert Hall, March 29: Concert featuring the Estonian National Male Choir and conductor Grete Pedersen (Norway).
• Tallinn Guild Hall (Tallinna Suurgildi hoone) March 24 and Pärnu Concert Hall March 25: Concert of Dialogos Ensemble.
• Tallinn Town Hall (Tallinna raekoda), March 31: Concert featuring the Sergey Taneyev String Quartet (St. Petersburg).

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