Hillar Sein, deputy secretary-general for Arts at the Ministry of Culture, said the ministry will not have the funds to support the purchase of pianos in 2019 and 2020, because the ministry does not have targeted support programs for purchasing instruments.

"Because budget planning is a long process and takes into account the focus of established support programs, we will unfortunately not be able to support piano buying in the near future," Sein wrote to the mayor of Narva, Aleksei Jevgrafov.

"We advise you to contact various piano sellers, including the domestic Estonia Klaverivabrik AS, to find out how they can support the purchase of a piano with a significantly lower price and a suitable payment schedule," Sein added.

Earlier this month, Yevgrafov, sent a letter to Tõnis Lukas, the Minister of Culture, asking the state for help buy a new piano for €125,000. The city promised to finance a third of the piano purchase but needed the remaining two-thirds to come from the government.

Yevgrafov said music events of national and international importance, which are attended by a large number of people, are organized in Narva, but the lack of a high-quality concert piano has become a problem.

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