Top young soloists take to the stage at Tallinn Winter Festival

Text Susanna Poikela
Photos Matti Kyllönen, press material

Irina Zahharenkova

Top young European musicians from Estonia, Spain, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Latvia and Italy will perform at Tallinn’s traditional Winter Festival between February 11 and 27. The theme of this year’s festival is Lift Your Eyes and Open Your Heart. Concerts will take place at Tallinn City Hall, St Michael’s Church, Jaan Poska House and the Theatre and Concert Hall of the Estonian Academy of Music. The event is organised by the Pille Lill Music Foundation PLMF, whose artistic director is opera singer and vocal coach Pille Lill.

The festival kicks off on February 11 at 3:15pm with a Young Talents concert at St Michael’s Church in Tallinn’s Old Town. Admission to the concert is free. On stage will be soprano Annabel Soode (Estonia) and pianist Rose Thomas (France), winners of EMTA’s 4th Chamber Duet Competition, and pianists Rasmus Rosenberg and Tigran Karapetyan, who have also achieved significant competition successes. The programme includes works by Bach, Chopin, Saariaho, Rachmaninov, Cuellar and others.

New venues and international stars

For the first time, the Jaan Poska House will host a Winter Festival concert. On February 12, singer Eliisa Rääts and pianist Johan Randvere will perform music by composer Jaan Rääts.

At Tallinn Town Hall, Spanish soprano Rocio Faus will create a Mediterranean atmosphere on February 13 at 6 pm. The programme will include compositions by Debussy, Fauré and Poulenc. The following day,  February 14, in the same venue, Antonia Cuomo, winner of the T.O.S.C.A 2024 competition and PLMF Special Prize, and Spanish tenor Pepe Hannan will perform works by Puccini, Mascagni, Cilea and Giordano. On Saturday  February 15 at 6 pm, Latvian cellist Irina Vylegzhanina will perform works by Bach, Schubert and Brahms in Eternal Harmony. Liubov Gromoglasova will be the pianist for these concerts at the Town Hall.

Spiegel Im Spiegel and the closing concert of the festival

The festival will conclude on February 20 at Tallinn Town Hall with Spiegel Im Spiegel, a concert featuring Czech violinist Kristina Fialová and pianist Ralf Taal performing works by Schubert, Brahms and Pärt. Violinist Michael Vaiman, cellist Peeter Paemurru and pianist Dina Joffe will play Schumann and Aarni in Music in the Wind on February 26 at 6 pm.

The closing concert of the festival will take place on February 27 at 6 pm in the EMTA Concert and Theatre Hall. The concert will feature top Estonian pianist Irina Zahharenkova and music by Beethoven and Rachmaninov. The concert will also see the announcement of the third edition of the Kelam Family “MUBA Talent 2024” Special Prize.

You can read more about the event on the Estonian Music Festival website.

To learn more about this and similar topics
classical music concerts in Tallinn Concerts events Events in Tallinn MUBA Pille Lill PLMF Winter Festival