New Executive Director Appointed for National Symphony
Music manager and producer Kadri Tali has signed a three-year contract to head the National Symphony Orchestra.
On March 15, Minister of Culture Laine Jänes gave the green light to the selection committee's proposal to appoint Tali as the new executive director, replacing Anneli Unt who took over the position temporarily in November after Jänes fired the previous director, Andres Siitan. Tali will begin work on March 21.
Tali graduated from the Estonian Academy of Music in 1996. She is the founder of the Nordic Symphony Orchestra and has been its manager since the year of her graduation.
She has also acted as manager to the Kremerata Baltica chamber orchestra and the concert agency Eesti Kontsert, organized numerous music festivals, and co-produced four records and several documentaries.
Nine candidates overall applied for the position. The decision to choose Tali was made by a selection committee composed of representatives from the Music Council, the National Symphony's own creative council, the orchestra staff and the Ministry of Culture.
In September 2010, Siitan wrote a highly critical open letter addressed to Minister of Culture Laine Jänes in which he blasted what he called "failed" reforms that had put the orchestra in an unfair budgetary position.
The ensuing chain of events led to Siitan's being fired on the grounds of gross financial mismanagement, Neeme Järvi's resignation from the post of chief conductor and the orchestra's bank accounts being seized by tax authorities in November.
One of Tali's first jobs on assuming her new role will be to find a new chief conductor for the orchestra.
Erkki Sivonen