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On 18-21 July 2018 took place at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (EAMT) a 4-day workshop with the aim to test how can research and education networks connect musicians in different countries so they can rehearse and perform together. This event was globally first of its kind. 

Hands-on training gave national research and education networks (NRENs) from Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries practical experience in setting up network connectivity combined with LoLa (low latency audiovisual streaming system).

The Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (EAMT) provided training leadership and technical support, based on the rich LoLa experience that was gained through the 2017 ‘Music Without Borders’ concert organised by EaPConnect and subsequent other events.

Around 20 network and sound specialists and musicians from four EaP and three partner EU countries met at EAMT to exchange practical experience and theoretical knowledge, to interact and share best practices in a very dynamic environment. Split into two teams, they simulated being in different countries by setting up network and LoLa connections from two rooms. During this creative technical process they also discussed potential future collaborations to support music master classes and lectures.

Each day of training was followed by a rehearsal, with the week culminating in a real LoLa use case – ‘Remote Transitions’, a concert with a live connection between Tallinn and two locations in Italy.

Well-known musicians from Georgia and Germany – Reso Kiknadze and Vladi Bystrov – played saxophones in Tallinn together with musicians in Trieste and a dancer in San Giorgio-Venice, showcasing to an audience in San Giorgio-Venice how seamless a connection the networks and LoLa provide.

The Tallinn activities were hosted and facilitated by EAMT. The Italian activities were coordinated with Conservatorio di Musica “G. Tartini” di Trieste as part of an Italian music festival. The Tallinn events were organised by the EaPConnect project in cooperation with the Italian NREN GARR.

Photos and video from the training workshop and the ‘Remote Transitions’ concert are available online. (YouTube streaming of the performance in San Giorgio-Venice starts at approximately 50 minutes.)

On 1st of October 2018 took place the first ever 5G concert, that was organized with the help of 5G network and LoLa streaming technology simultaneously in two locations: at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in Tallinn and at Seto Culture Museum in Setomaa (with the distance of 300 km). The concert was held as part of the International Music Day programme.

The concert was organized in collaboration with the telecommunication company Elisa. Due to the 5G network of Elisa and the Academies Low Latency Audio Visual Streaming System LoLa, it was possible to arrange the concert simultaneously in two locations in Estonia. The concert on 1st of October was also a demonstration of the 5G network of Elisa.

In 2017, the Head of IT at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, Innar Järva achieved the first prize at the 5G ideas competition, that was held by Elisa, business ideas competition Ajujaht and technology news portal Geenius. Due to the competition, the Academy became the first university in Estonia, which hosts its own 5G-support station of Elisa on its premises. The station was also used for organizing the collaborative concert on 1st of October.

LoLa technology enables musicians, who are located up to 5000 km apart from each other, to play together in real time. The collaboration of LoLa technology and 5G network creates the first mobile solution, that has fast enough speed and minimal latency to enable playing music in real time via audio visual streaming without the need for broadband connection.

The performers of the concert on 1st of October in Tallinn were pianist Mihkel Poll, guitarist Jaak Sooäär and percussionist Tanel Ruben, who played together with musicians, who were located 300km away in Setomaa: cellist Henry-David Varema and singer Laura Põldvere.

LoLa technology is the project of Giuseppe Tartini Conservatory in Italy and the Italian Consortium of the Science and Education Network GARR. The Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre received the LoLa hardware with the support of the Estonian Education and Research Network of Information Technology Foundation for Education from the European Union projectGÉANT-EaPConnect.

THE EUROPEAN UNION YOUTH ORCHESTRA AUDITION

All applicants for the 2019 Orchestra must be aged between 16 and 26 inclusive on 31 December 2018 and hold passports from one of the 28 European Union member countries. Precise rules and regulations are available here.

The auditions will take place in two rounds:

HOW AND WHEN TO APPLY?
All the candidates are requested to fill in the application and send it by Friday, 2 November latest to kai@ema.edu.ee. 

Questions and additional info:
Kai Kiiv
6675 721
kai@ema.edu.ee

The European Union Youth Orchestra, founded in 1976, is by now one of the world’s pre-eminent symphony orchestras that has worked with many of the world’s greatest musicians including Daniel Barenboim, Leonard Bernstein, Herbert von Karajan, Mstislav Rostropovich and particularly its three Music Directors and current Chief Conductor: Founding Music Director Claudio Abbado, former Music Director Vladimir Ashkenazy, former Music Director and current Conductor Laureate Bernard Haitink, and Chief Conductor Vasily Petrenko.The spring and summer tours 2019 will take place in the EUYO residencies in Ferrara, Grafenegg and Bolzano followed by concert tours to Austria, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, UK and Oman. More precise info is available here.

Today the topping out rite took place in the hall complex, the construction of which will be finished next autumn by the 100^th anniversary of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theater. The building has now reached its full planned height of 23.6 meters and thus the important stage of the construction works was successfully completed.

Today in the afternoon, in the presence of the Minister of Education and Science Mailis Reps and the Minister of Culture Indrek Saar, the rector of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theater Professor Ivari Ilja officially removed the garland from the roof of the new top-class building of the hall complex. Traditionally, the person who orders the building must remove the garland from the roof and organize for food and drinks for the builders to ensure good luck for the future building. Otherwise, the builders first replace the garland with an old broomstick, and then with worn work pants – as the result, the building will quickly collapse. To avoid this, yesterday a traditional topping out rite was organized for the builders.

The Minister of Education and Science Mailis Reps noted that the topping out rite is a step towards EAMT celebrating its centenary in the new building with a concert hall featuring excellent acoustics and modern technologies, blackbox rooms and classrooms. “I wish the entire family of the academy just a little more patience, and also to practice a lot to be able to fill the new hall with wonderful sounds and unforgettable performances,” Reps said.

“We should always remember that the most unique thing that we can offer the world is our culture. We ourselves go to concerts and the theater more often with every passing year. Construction of this new learning environment is thus natural and necessary. In addition, the organizers of cultural events will receive a complex with modern facilities, where it will be possible to present the most innovative achievements for which we simply did not have a suitable place before. In a word, this is a worthy gift for the anniversary of our culture state,” the Minister of Culture Indrek Saar said.

According to the rector of the EAMT Professor Ivari Ilja, the purpose of today’s topping out rite is to express gratitude to the builders and to establish warm relationships with the spirit of the house. “There are plenty of reasons to thank the builders, since the work is well ahead of schedule. Everything indicates that by the anniversary of EAMT in September 2019 we will be able to open the long-awaited hall complex, which, along with a place for study work, will often serve as a venue for concerts and performances,” said Professor Ilja.

The central part of the complex with the total area of ​​6,100 square meters will be occupied by a concert hall with 480 seats built over four floors and ideally suited primarily for the performance of classical music, but also works of other styles. The blackbox for 130 spectators will be built over three floors – it will be used by students of theatrical art and jazz musicians. The five-story building with a ground floor will also accommodate 21 classrooms, including a multimedia studio and a jazz classroom. All floors of the hall complex will be connected to the main Academy building located nearby.

The Administrative Director of EAMT Ott Maaten noted that today an important intermediate stage of the construction of the hall complex has been successfully completed. “The main construction elements of the building are essentially ready. The facade is almost finished, and the doors and windows are installed. Interior finishing works may commence,” explained Maaten.

The EAMT hall complex is designed by AS Resand. The architects of the building are Toivo Tammik and Mart Rõuk from Ansambel bureau. The interior architecture of the halls is designed by Aivar Oja from FraDisain OÜ. The acoustic project is prepared by Linda Madalik in collaboration with the Danish acoustic bureau Gade&Mortensen Akustik. The building is built by Nordlin Ehitus AS, the owner’s supervision carried out by Tallinna Linnaehituse AS. The construction of the complex is financed by Eesti Kultuurkapital, the Regional Development Fund of the European Union and EAMT.

Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre is pleased to announce the lecture series of Professor Richard Taruskin (US), who is a professor emeritus of University of California, Berkeley and one of the most outstanding musicologists and music historians today.

The lectures are scheduled from 23–26 April 2018 in the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (Address: Tatari 13, Tallinn).

Taruskin has been awarded multiple research prizes. One of the most notables is the Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy that he was recognized with in 2017. This prize is considered to be equally high recognition compared to Nobel prize (i.e. in areas where Nobel Prize is not granted).

The lectures will be on the following topics:

23.04    The History of What? – On music historiography
24.04    How Things Stand Now – On performance practice
25.04    But Aren’t All Traditions Invented? – On musical transmission
26.04    Essence or Context – On musical ontology

(All the lectures take place from 16:15–18:30)

Kindly register your participation here: https://goo.gl/forms/hHDgKmRJ0qbm3ohq2

Today, on 7th of April 2018 the cornerstone was laid for the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre’s (EAMT) new concert hall complex, which will feature a main hall with a capacity of 480 people, a blackbox theatre seating 130, and 21 new classrooms. The state of the art building that costs nearly 12 million euros will be ready by EAMT’s centenary next September.

The participants in the afternoon ceremony today were Minister of Education and Culture Mailis Reps, Minister of Culture Indrek Saar and the Academy Rector, Professor Ivari Ilja. For posterity, a time capsule emblazoned with the EAMT logo was installed in the cornerstone. The contents of the metal cylinder are: daily newspapers with today’s date, the blueprints of the new building, a silver postage stamp and souvenir coins of the country’s centenary and a tuning fork.

Minister of Education and Research Mailis Reps called the occasion a chance to rejoice for the school community and all music aficionados as well as the general public, because the new building will feature the concert hall with the best acoustics and the most up to date technology in Estonia.“I hope that the creative muse will find its way to this building too and inspire students in their studies and performers at concerts,” said Reps.

“The new building and the significantly broader possibilities for provision of education represent the start of a new chapter in the history of EAMT. It is very important for Estonian musical culture that the reach of international projects and research is broadening, the academy will make it on to the world educational map as an even more powerful symbol, appealing to music students and teachers across the world,” said Minister of Culture Indrek Saar.

The Rector of EAMT, prof. Ivari Ilja said he was pleased that after 20 years of patient waiting the conservatory would finally get its own concert hall, which was not built concurrently with the academic complex. “The state of the art complex to be completed for the academy’s centenary is indispensable for future top-level musicians and actors, allowing them, without leaving their alma mater, to gain as direct an experience as possible on the big stage, to be able to master acoustic particularities, to feel the heat of the klieg lights,” emphasised Ilja.“There is no concert hall with nearly 500 seats in Tallinn; so the new building will fill that gap as well.The complex is also good news for theatre-goers, because the EAMT symphony orchestra, top musicians from home and abroad, actors and directors, academy teaching staff and doyens of the international music scene teaching master classes in Tallinn will also use the performance venues.”

The central part of the 6,100-square-metre building will be the 480-seat concert hall, which is four storeys high from floor to ceiling and is best suited for classical music, although other musical styles will also find a home here. The 130-seat black box theatre rises three storeys and will be used by drama students and jazz musicians. The five-storey building with a lookout basement level will house 21 classrooms, including a multimedia studio and jazz lab.

EAMT Administrative Director Ott Maaten says all levels of the complex will be connected to the main building next door. “The concert hall with two balconies is the most important and biggest space and is located in the middle of the building. It can be accessed from the main building and also has a separate entrance from Sakala Street, so that the hall could be used flexibly for both teaching activity and events,” said Maaten. “The hall complex will be stylistically similar to the EAMT main building and the interior design will follow the conservative aesthetics of the building, characterised by dominant use of natural materials and primary colours. As this will be Estonia’s newest concert venue, the acoustics take into account the experiences of all previous concert halls.”

The EAMT concert hall complex was engineered by AS Resand. The architects were Toivo Tammik and Mart Rõuk from the architectural design office Ansambel, and the interior architecture in the performance venues is by Aivar Oja from FraDisain OÜ. The acoustics project is by Linda Madalik in collaboration with the Danish acoustics office of Gade&Mortensen Akustik. Construction will be performed by Nordlin Ehitus AS and the owner’s supervision will be carried out by Tallinna Linnaehituse AS. The construction of the complex is being funded by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, the European Regional Development Fund and EMTA.

Photo: Õhtuleht (Alar Truu)

The Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre is the first in Estonia to use the unique LoLa (low latency) technology tool that enables real time musical performances where musicians are physically located in remote sites (up to 4000 km) connected by advanced network services with no significant distortion or delay.

LoLa was introduced in a concert “Music without Borders” on 5 October that served as an introduction to the 2nd Eastern Partnership Ministerial Meeting on Digital Economy featuring top musicians from Tallinn and Minsk, Belarus, who performed together in real time. Among them were Rector of the EAMT, pianist Ivari Ilja, Vice-Rector of the EAMT, cellist Henry-David Varema, jazz pianist Kirke Karja and singer Laura Põldvere. The Estonian musicians were joined in Minsk by a number of Belarusian and Georgian musicians such as renowned jazz saxophonist Reso Kiknadze, Rector of Tbilisi State Conservatory.

Even though introduced first time in Estonia, the LoLa technology has been in use in many music schools in Europe, the US and elsewhere for teaching, master classes, rehearsals and performances since its first public demonstration in 2010. It is now available in Eastern Partnership countries thanks to the EaPConnect project that sets out to create a regional research and education network in Eastern Europe and the Southern Caucasus with the objective to decrease the digital divide, improve intra-regional connectivity and facilitate participation of local scientists, students and academics in global research and education collaborations. EaPConnect is managed by the networking organisation GÉANT in collaboration with the national research and education networks in the six beneficiary partner countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine), and includes associate partners from other world regions.

The LoLa project research and development team is a collaboration between Conservtorio di Musica G. Tartini, Trieste, and the Italian research and academic network GARR. The idea of LoLa was conceived in 2005 and was commended by the international research and education networking community with GÉANT Community Award in 2017.

Today, 12 September is the important day, when the inaugural ceremony of the new Rector of the EAMT, Prof. Ivari Ilja will take place at 16.00 in the Chamber hall of the EAMT. The medal symbolizing the office of the Rector will be presented to Prof. Ilja by the President of Estonia, Kersti Kaljulaid, and the ceremony will be broadcasted live by the Estonian Public Broadcasting Culture portal.

In addition to the President, the members of the EAMT and other invited guests will be addressed by the Minister of Research and Education, Mailis Reps; Minister of Culture, Inderk saar; Representative of the Council of Rectors of Estonian Universities, Prof. Mart Kalm; Vice-Head of the EAMT Student Council, Karl Joosep Sinisalu, and many others.

Musical greetings will be presented by the Choir of the EAMT under the baton of Tõnu Kaljuste, by the internationally acclaimed pianists Mihkel Poll and Stenn Lassmann, and Estonian zither player Anna-Liisa Eller.

Prof. Ivari Ilja studied piano at Tallinn State Conservatoire under Prof. Laine Mets and at Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatoire under Professors Vera Gornostayeva and Sergey Dorensky. He has been a member of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre faculty since 1986 and held the position of Head of the Piano Department from 2000 to 2015. He is currently Chairman of the Board of the Estonian Association of Professional Musicians and Member of the Board of the Estonian Music Council.

Professor Ivari Ilja elected to be the next rector of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre

Professor Ilja received 30 votes in the 55-strong electoral council in the first round of elections for rector of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre on Wednesday May 3rd.

Candidates for the position were professor Ivari Ilja of the Piano Department, professor Kerri Kotta of the Musicology Department, professor Marje Lohuaru of Instrumental Chamber Music Centre and professor Toomas Vavilov of the Brass and Woodwind Department.

The rector is elected for a term of five years by the electoral council, which comprises the members of the EAMT council, the Board of Governors, professors and lead research fellows whose work load is at least 0.5 and student representatives named by the the student council.

Professor Ivari Ilja has been a member of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre faculty since 1986 and held the position of Head of the Piano Department from 2000 to 2015.

He is currently Chairman of the Board of the Estonian Association of Professional Musicians and Member of the Board of the Estonian Music Council.

Professor Ilja’s term as rector will begin on 1th September 2017.

Ivari Ilja studied the piano at the Tallinn State Conservatoire with Professor Laine Mets and at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatoire with Professor Vera Gornostayeva and Professor Sergey Dorensky.

Ivari Ilja is an internationally recognized pianist, accompanist and ensemble musician. His collaboration with renowned singers Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Irina Arkhipova, Maria Guleghina and Elena Zaremba has been particularly successful and acclaimed. Together they have performed many of the great concert stages of the world, including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Avery Fisher Hall of New York, The Kennedy Center of Washington, Davies Symphony Hall San Francisco, La Scala in Milan, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Wigmore Hall in London, the Bolshoi Theatre of Moscow, the great halls of St. Peterburg Philharmonic and Moscow Conservatory, Staatsoper Hamburg, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Suntory Hall of Tokyo, Musikverein of Vienna and Mozarteum of Salzburg.

Ivari Ilja has also held solo recitals in France, United Kingdom, Germany, Estonia, Russia, Sweden, Finland and performed as a soloist with several symphony orchestras such as Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra etc.

His repertoire mostly consists of romantic music, primarily of the works by Frédéric Chopin, Johannes Brahms, Robert Schumann, but also Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sergei Prokofiev, Benjamin Britten and others.

Since 2003, he has repeatedly toured with great Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky in USA, Europe, Hong-Kong, Japan and elsewhere.

Estonian composer Veljo Tormis died at the age of 86 on Saturday, 21 January 2017.

Born in Aru village, Kuusalu Parish, Harju County, Tormis had a profound experience with choral music starting at an early age.

When he was seven, his family moved to Kivi-Vigala village, where his father worked as a sacristan – his father was teaching music and worked as an organist at a local church. The family home also had an organ that provided Tormis with his first playing experience.

Tormis began his formal musical education in 1943 at the Tallinn Music School. In 1949, he entered the Tallinn Conservatory and continued his studies at the Moscow Conservatory (1951–1956). Soon after, he acquired a teaching position at the Tallinn Music School (1955–60), where Arvo Pärt was among his students. He held another teaching position at the Tallinn Music High School (1962–66), but by 1969 was supporting himself exclusively as a freelance composer.