The Tallinn Chamber Music Festival was brought to life by PLMF Music Trust in 2003.

“The Tallinn Chamber Music Festival was born out of the dream to organise a grand parade of Estonian top performers where the public could get an overview of the best of our lead soloists.” 

- Opera singer Pille Lill, founder of the Trust

XIX Tallinn Chamber Music Festival “Symbiosis” will take place from the 23rd until the 30th of August.

As an artistic director for the first time, I had the idea to connect all the concerts with a mutual theme that would make the festival a complete artistic event.

“Symbiosis” has been divided into subtitles, such as “Opening Gala”, “Intimate letters”, “From Baroque to Tango”, “Poesia through music”, “Mystic Universe”, “Rannap!”, “The Beauty and Magnificence of Music”, “On the Bridge of Sounds”, “Grande Finale” etc.

The theme of the festival is based on the events taking place today in the world. Unfortunately we have had to see and experience things that destroy societies and are threatening to upset the balance of life on Earth. The events taking place in the world are splitting us, primarily because of corona and war, although in fact we should do everything to integrate and be in harmony with life.

Culture has been a glue and a common factor that has always connected people, no matter where they have come from. Culture - and mostly - music - is the magic that ties us, without words and sincerely, directly from heart to heart.

A big dream of mine has been to link different forms of arts into one, while connecting the traditions of different lands and histories. My wish has been to tie chamber music to poetry and audiovisuals, while offering audiences the best artists from Estonia and abroad. I have met countless fantastic artists during my life, and I want to share that experience with the Estonian audience.

As the last couple of years have shown us, the media has been interested in the Tallinn Chamber Music Festival and its diverse repertoire. In 2021, three different culture papers (Sirp, TMK, Muusika) published reviews of the festival.

The composer in residence in 2023 is the phenomenal pianist and composer Rein Rannap. The festival will also feature works from Rannap’s older repertoire, including “Cantilena” for violin and orchestra/organ/piano, that Rannap wrote already in 2013, but has still has not been performed with an orchestra. As part of the youth program at the festival, there will be a concert called “On the Bridge of Sounds”, to create an immediate relationship between a young listener and interpreters and chamber music. It will be held by our wonderful singers Angelika Klas-Fagerlund and Marion Melnik.

Famous artists from Estonia and other countries are expected to perform at the festival, including violinist/conductor Jan Söderblom (Finland), viola player and professor Razvan Popovici (Romania/Germany), cellist Jan-Erik Gustafsson (Finland), and our own phenomenal musicians Irina Zahharenkova, Marcel Johannes Kits, Mari Poll-Novakovic, Ivi Ots, Kaija Lukas, Toomas Vavilov, Silvia Ilves, Kadi Jürgens, Regina Udod, Siim Selis, Tambet Tuisk and others.

Students will get tickets at a discounted price, to help grow new audiences. PLMF has been created to support young and talented Estonian musicians in improving their professional skills, which is one of the outputs for highlighting young talents. Every year since founding the festival we, in cooperation with other groups who value culture, give out prizes at the Tallinn Chamber Music Festival, very important in the Estonian music scene. This tradition will also continue in 2023, when we will give out the prize “Young Musician” at the Tallinn Chamber Music Festival.

Welcome! And I wish you rich experiences!