Viljandi Guitar Festival

Text Stewart Johnson
Photo Jefferson Santos / Unsplash

Since 2008 the Viljandi Guitar Festival (8–12 October) has welcomed musicians from Estonia and around the world to perform a series of concerts focusing on the guitar, and improvisation, also known as “jamming”. This year’s festival includes artists from Brazil, Uruguay, Finland, Sweden, and of course Estonia. The styles of playing will be as diverse as the continents the artists are from.

The Viljandi Guitar Festival celebrates the beautiful sound of the guitar, and aims to allow performing musicians to first demonstrate their own styles of music, and then to jam with other artists. You could call it “cross-cultural improv”. Audiences never know what exactly their ears will hear during these concerts.

One talented young Estonian artist will also receive the Tiit Paulus Young Guitarist Award, which will help further their studies of the guitar.

A festival pass, as well as tickets to individual concerts, are available here. Individual concerts requiring a ticket will feature TamTam, whose members are Anett Tamm and Karl Tammaru; Frederik Küüts; South of Savoy; Duo Siqueira Lima; the Mike Stern, Leni Stern, and Varre Vartiainen Quartet; Kelly Johannes; Jaak Sooäär, Ara Yaralyan of Armenia, and Markku Ounaskari of Finland; Jaan Jaago; Valter Soosalu; the Andreas Hourdakis Quartet; Andre Maaker and Martin Mill; and Andrus Albrecht and Jaan Pehk. Tickets for this last concert are only available at the door.

Free concerts include nightly jam sessions, and a nightly exhibition titled “Guitars From the Previous Century”.

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Concert events in Viljandi Guitar improv music Viljandi Guitar Festival