This year the festival brings together Estonian musicians such as Trio Hämarik, Marcel Johannes Kits and the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra led by conductor Andres Kaljuste, as well as the Latvian mixed choir "Latvija" and the contemporary ensemble "DaGamba".

Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Estonian Concert Hall decided to change the name of the festival, which was previously known as the Tchaikovsky Festival. It also decided not to invite Russian musicians to perform this year.

"To begin with, the festival has been running under the same name for six years, with the respective program and ethos, which is now limiting its repertoire. Giving it a fresh start is an opportunity to broaden the scope of the activities and thus expand both the musical composition of the program and its other parts. In general, this is an excellent opportunity for a festival. We continue to program Tchaikovsky's music, but this, this minor name change is only beneficial," said Tuuli Metsoja, the Haapsalu White Nights Music Festival's producer.

Russian composer Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky stayed in Haapsalu, a spa town in western Estonia, in 1867, and worked on several of his compositions there.

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