Arvo P\u00e4rt: Years in Exile, 1980\u20132000<\/strong> (KUM-TA125) 01.01.2026-31.12.2026, principal investigator prof Toomas Siitan<\/strong>. The project aims to compile the second part of a comprehensive monograph analysing the creative career of the composer Arvo P\u00e4rt. The focus will be on his work during his time in Berlin, from his emigration in 1980 until the turn of the millennium. This is the second phase of the research and compilation of the monograph: the first phase, completed in 2025, examined P\u00e4rt’s work during the Soviet time (1958\u20131979). A follow-up to the project is planned for 2027 and will cover P\u00e4rt’s work from the new millennium. The result of three years of research will be a comprehensive monograph on the work of Estonia’s most renowned composer. The monograph is based on the P\u00e4rt Centre archives, which contain background information on P\u00e4rt’s oeuvre, as well as the composer’s own reflections on the creation of his works in the form of recorded interviews. The extensive collection of the composer’s diaries is also invaluable. To date, only a small part of this material has found its way into research. Read more HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n Thematic-bibliographical catalogue of Heino Eller\u2019s works: systematisation and accessibility of metadata <\/strong>(KUM-TA123) 01.01.2026-31.12.2026, principal investigator senior lecturer Sten Lassmann. <\/strong>The works of all first-generation Estonian composers remain uncatalogued, with no critical editions or contemporary monographs available. KUM-TA85 grant project (2025) mapped the data on Heino Eller’s works in Estonian information systems, where inconsistencies and limited usability of datasets were noted. This raises the question: how can we ensure that the information complies with archival standards, is freely accessible, and can be analysed for digital humanities purposes? The publication of metadata in RISM (R\u00e9pertoire International des Sources Musicales), the world’s largest catalogue of musical manuscripts, represents an untapped opportunity that would enhance the competence of cataloguing musical works and promote data-driven music research in Estonia. The project aims to enter the metadata of Eller’s manuscripts into RISM, improve existing datasets, and lay the groundwork for compiling a thematic-bibliographic catalogue of Eller’s works. Read more HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n Eduard Tubin’s Drottningholm Legacy: Reconstructions of 17th and 18th Century Stage Works and Their Connections to the Original Compositions<\/strong> (KUM-LU101) 01.01.2026-31.12.2026, principal investigator prof Margus P\u00e4rtlas. An eminent figure of Estonian music, internationally renowned symphonic composer Eduard Tubin (1905\u20131982) worked in the archives of the Drottningholm Court Theatre in Sweden from 1945 to 1972, where he reconstructed approx 20 stage works from the Baroque and early Classical periods for performance. Among them are several complete orchestrations, which are of great value in an international context, but are still unknown to the public. The main goal of the project is to examine Tubin’s materials in the Drottningholm archives. The most valuable part of them will be digitized at the Estonian History Museum. A secondary goal is to examine the connections between Tubin’s reconstructions and his own compositions of the Swedish period, including manifestations of neoclassicism in several works. As a result of the project, material of great practical value will be made available to performers and researchers and an important gap in the research on Tubin’s Swedish period will be filled. Read more HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n What does absolute music tell us? Conductors possibilities for explaining the symphonic narrative to non-expert listener during the performance <\/strong>(KUM-LU32) 01.01.2026-31.12.2026, principal investigator visiting researcher Mihhail Gerts<\/strong>. Large-scale musical form offers multiple associations with various aspects of human life, being thus a limitless source of inspiration for a conscious listener. However, noticing the structural connections of a composition requires musical expertise, without which the experience of a performance of an unknown complex large-scale symphonic work will remain a superficial, at worst a negative experience. This artistic research project explores ways to help non-expert listener better understand complex, large-scale symphonic composition when hearing it for the first time in a performance. The project aims to create a new performative artwork based on Eduard Tubin’s 10th Symphony. This will include a spoken text delivered by the conductor to reveal the essence of the musical events as they unfold, helping listeners to follow the evolving composition during the performance. For this purpose a narrative text describing the dramaturgy of musical form of Tubin’s 10th Symphony will be created. Methods of form analysis (Aranovski, 1979; Hepokoski and Darcy, 2006) will be combined with these of text creation used in drama theatre (Jahr, 2021; Maus, 1991). Conclusions from relevant participatory audience studies will be considered when creating the text to intensify the engagement of the audience (Matthews, 2019). Integrating spoken text into conductors actions during the performance present novel artistic challenges which will be discussed in the project’s section on interpretation. The current study is a further development of the artistic research project “How to share the ardor? Conveying complex musical structures to unprepared listener through the animated score” (2024). Based on conclusions of the aforementioned project, this will be the first attempt to approach a whole symphony. The project is a prototype that creates methods that could be applied to other large-scale orchestral works in order to introduce them to non-expert listener. Read more HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n Self-Determined Mental Creative Space Through Improvisation<\/strong> (KUM-LU37) 01.11.2025-31.12.2026, principal investigator lecturer Jaak Sikk<\/strong>. The project researches how the practice-based specific methodology of improvising, when taught to music students, influences their ability of self-determination (and its components). Two groups of music students will participate in two three-day intense improvisation courses. The second course will be refined based on the analysis of the first course, which will add reliability to the research. Participants are pedagogical branch music students of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, playing various instruments. After the courses, a questionnaire will be handed out to the participants on how the used methods influenced the responsibility taking, self-trust, awareness of mental processes, and risk management of the participants. The gathered responses will be analyzed qualitatively in the Atlas.ti program and secondarily quantitatively. Follow-up interviews will be conducted to specify the answers. Conclusions will be drawn based on the combined results and hypotheses based on the pilot study. The aim of this study is to develop the method \u201cSelf-Determined Mental Creative Space Through Improvisation\u201d and coin it into a reproducible research-based course format which has value in the long term. The method supports the growth of autonomous, self-determined, and mature artists active in both improvisation and classical music fields. The project will result in a valid improvisation course format, peer-reviewed article, public concerts, radio interview, and innovative training for future music teachers. Read more HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ethnogenesis of the Seto People and Their Cultural Relations with Eastern Finno-Ugrians in the Light of Ethnomusicological Data <\/b>(PRG2600), 01.01.2025-31.12.2029, principal investigator senior researcher <\/span>\u017danna P\u00e4rtlas. <\/b>Archaeologists, linguists and anthropologists generally agree that the ancestors of the Baltic Finns, including the Seto, migrated to the present territories from the Volga-Oka-Kama river area. However, ethnomusicological research on this topic is scarce. Since ritual song genres are very conservative and may carry traces of ancient styles, musical data are of great value for the study of ethnogenesis. The project aims to complement the study of cultural contacts between the Seto and the eastern Finno-Ugric peoples with data on traditional songs and their cultural context, focusing, besides the Seto, on the vocal practices of Erzya and Moksha Mordvins, Udmurts and <\/span>Besermyans. The study focuses on three ethnic-specific phenomena: polyphonic singing, ancient improvisational genres, and peculiarities of pitch systems and intonation. The methodological approach is complex and mainly consists of a search for basic structures in tunes, texts and rituals and their typological comparison. <\/span>Read more <\/span>HERE<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Improving the intelligibility of sung text: the problems and the scientific basis<\/strong> (PRG1552), 01.01.2022\u201331.12.2026, principal investigator prof Allan Vurma<\/strong>. We expect vocalists to sing with intelligible text, but singers also have to obey the constraints which are dictated by the music. Thus, the methods which are used to enhance diction in speaking may not necessarily be fully applicable to singing. The standpoiherents of singers regarding how to achieve clear pronunciation are controversial, and investigations on the subject are scarce. Read more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Impact of subcultural (pop) music on the ideologization of 21st-century Estonian youth and on youth mental health<\/strong> (PSG838), 01.01.2023\u201331.12.2027, principal investigator Brigitta Davidjants<\/strong>. Music creates a sense of belonging and supports mental health among people who have the same values. The focus of the project is on the subcultural ideologization of Estonian youth in the 21st century. While the youth of the 1990s were relatively weakly ideologized, the 21st century saw the re-emergence of subcultural political identities. See further here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Estonian Research and Cultural Data Infrastructure <\/b>(consortium project led by the Estonian Literary Museum, 01.01.2025-31.12.2029), investigator <\/span>Aare Tool. <\/b>The infrastructure developed through the synergy of 10 partners will bring rich Estonian cultural and scientific materials, including their data potential, into broader public and scientific use, and provide modern opportunities for data analysis to researchers, students, and citizens. E-varamu will continue its rescue and digitization efforts of research collections, aggregation and dissemination of the content and metadata of central scientific and cultural data collections. Technological solutions ensure data accuracy, integrate AI-based search capabilities, text and speech recognition, and enable data queries through a framework that considers usage rights. The new HUM lab will offer tools for data analysis, machine learning, and presenting research processes and results. An expert council will advise humanities researchers on research design. DataCite Estonia ensures the international visibility of Estonian research data through DOI services, and promotes open science in Estonia.<\/span><\/p>\n Composition and Improvisation in the 21st Century<\/strong> (LUP1), 1.01.2014\u2212\u2026, principal investigator prof Kristel Pappel<\/strong>. This project combines research papers, that examine the interrelation between composition and improvisation in the 21st century and analyze or create new compositional frameworks. Read more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"dropdown","which_dropdown":"hard","dropdowns":false,"hard_dropdowns":[{"dropdown_title":"COMPLETED PROJECTS","dropdown_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"tekstikast","page_text":" Arvo P\u00e4rt: Finding his own voice (1958\u20131979) <\/b>(KUM-TA83),<\/span>01.01.2025-31.12.2025, principal investigator prof <\/span>Toomas Siitan. <\/b>The project aims to compile the first part of a comprehensive monograph analysing Arvo P\u00e4rt’s creative career up to his emigration in 1980. Several foreign authors have worked on this topic, but the proposed study would be the first to be sensitively grounded in the local context and based on extensive archival work. The aim is to analyse the development of P\u00e4rt’s creative style, place it in the wider context of Estonian cultural life and politics, and relate it to the trends of the time in the USSR and the West. The work is based on the archives of the Arvo P\u00e4rt Centre, which contain background information on P\u00e4rt’s oeuvre and the composer’s reflections on the creation and reception of his works in the form of recorded interviews. The extensive collection of the composer’s diaries is also invaluable. Only a very small part of this material has so far been used in research. The first part of a comprehensive monograph will be completed by the end of 2025. Read more HERE<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Data analysis and creation of methodological basis for the thematic-bibliographical catalogue of Heino Eller \u0301s works <\/b>(KUM-TA85), <\/span>01.01.2025-31.12.2025, principal investigator senior lecturer <\/span>Sten Lassmann. <\/b>The state of research on Estonian national art music is not to be commended: currently, both the scientific monographs and catalogues of works are missing. This widening gap in source studies is a major problem in the development of national musical culture and threatens the vitality of Estonian culture as a whole. The lack of structured and up-to-date research prevents the foundational cultural texts from relating to contemporary living culture: the absence of studies and editions makes it difficult to create new interpretations and promote the national culture in Estonia and internationally. This project aims to create a modern scientific database and a <\/span>specific methodological framework for producing a thematic-bibliographic catalogue of Heino Eller’s oeuvre. In the following stages, the results of this project can be applied in three domains: a) the creation of a thematic-bibliographical catalogue, b) writing of a monograph on Eller, and c) publishing the composer’s collected works. Read more HERE<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n How to share the ardor? Conveying complex musical structures to unprepared listener through the animated score on the example of Eduard Tubin\u00b4s first symphony<\/strong> (KUM_LU6), 01.11.2024\u201331.12.2025, principal investigator visiting researcher Mihhail Gerts<\/strong>. The study is based on the desire to offer the untrained listener an in-depth understanding of the structure of a symphonic composition. To this end, an animated score of the first movement of Eduard Tubin’s Symphony No. 1 will be created, in which the musical elements underlying the composition will be presented as an animation to support structural understanding. From the search for visual correspondences for the animation, it is hoped to derive more general principles formulating the conductor’s figurative thinking, which could be applied in the rehearsal process with the orchestra. The performance of the symphony, combined with the animation of the form construction in real time, will give rise to a new concert format to be presented at the TubIN festival in October 2025. The presentation will be followed by an empirical study to determine the target audience for the animation. The animated score will be a pilot project with a high potential for music education and general culture, and will serve as a model for the future presentation of the works of various composers. Read more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Modernised Salon: Broadening Performers\u2019 Perspectives on Public Presentation<\/strong> (KUM-LU14), 01.11.2024\u201331.10.2025, principal investigator senior lecturer Kristi Kapten<\/strong>. The project focuses on the development of a new type of performance format, centred on chamber music performed live and introducing a different kind of interactive interaction between audience and performer, inspired by historical salon culture. The project combines autoethnography with the “Actual, Active, Associative” model developed by Tansy Spinks for the analysis of spaces. The research will find answers to questions such as: what are the potential opportunities for a new way of presenting creative work for a performer who finds himself in a modernised salon situation and what preparation for this requires of the performer or changes his creative practice; what tools and components can be used to share the performer’s work process with the audience in an engaging and meaningful way; what tools are most effective for creating a salon-style social music event? A prototype will be developed to serve as a model for future events in a modernised salon format. Read more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n E4TLI: Education For Technological Literacy And Inclusion<\/strong> Typology of the Seto Song Tunes: Development of an Electronic Resource for Academic and Applied Use<\/strong> (KUM-TA32), 01.01.2024-31.03.2025, principal investigator senior researcher \u017danna P\u00e4rtlas. The goals of the joint project by EAMT and the Estonian Literary Museum are both scientific and applied – to identify, systematise, describe analytically and publish as an electronic resource all the types of leelo tunes using archival materials. The compilation of a tune typology is an important form of research in ethnomusicology; the publication of the research results in a handy digital format can also have an enriching effect on contemporary performance practice. Read more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Musical Impulse Through Movement and Music Performer \u0301s Self-image: Observations and Conclusions Based on a Historically Informed Performance<\/strong>, (LUP7-11\/6243), 01.09.2023-31.12.2024, principal investigator prof Lembit Orgse. This artistic study seeks to open and explain one of the processes that takes place during the performance of music with an interpreter, more precisely – to describe and formulate a musical motion impulse (MLI in Estonian). In the course of explaining this general concept, the answer to the question is sought: what are the mental and physical movements associated with the performance of music, the interaction of which results in a phenomenon that we can call MLI? Read more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Rebirth of Cembal d’amour. Set the music of David Kellner’s compilation “XVI auserlesene Lauten-St\u00fccke”<\/strong> (1747) on the basis of Kellner’s work “Treulicher Unterricht im General-Bass” (1732) (LUP7-11\/6244), 01.07.2023-31.12.2024, principal investigator prof Toomas Siitan. The study of David Kellner’s music complements the treatment of the music life of Estonian late baroque. As a result of the project, era-true versions of Kellner’s music will be completed. In the course of the artistic research, the cembal d’amour created for the Kellner family in 1721 by Silbermann is rebuilt according to the original drawings in cooperation with the instrument masters Peeter Talve and Lyndon J. Taylor (USA). The construction is based on the very precise general drawings of Johann Matteson’s time. Read more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Creating a new terminology base for music<\/strong> (TMS-2-4\/2024\/92), 01.07.-31.12.2024, head of the projects is Andrus Kallastu. The music terminology base to be created will encompass music in its broadest sense. The primary objective of the project is to organise the Estonian-language terminology of classical music, the language of the music terminology database is Estonian. The term base will be hosted in Ekilex, the EKI Dictionary and Termbase Management System (output S\u00f5naveeb). For further information on terminology work in Estonia, read more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Conservatory cultures: Nation and gender in the conservatoire music educations of Estonia, Finland, and Hungary<\/strong> (S1-20-0022), 01.01.2021\u201331.12.2023, principal investigator prof Kristi Kiilu. The project aims to investigate how conservatoire music education shapes belongings in terms of nation and gender, during times of growing nationalism and anti-gender movements, in Estonia, Finland and Hungary. Classical music has been understood as an artform displaying and constructing ideas about both nation and gender and is a cultural practice of symbolic importance. Further, access to classical music education is regulated by unequal gender structures, while patriotism and nationalism are evident in classical music education. Read more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n"}]}]},{"acf_fc_layout":"tekstikast","page_text":" Please find detailed information on finished and current research projects in Estonian Research Portal<\/a> (choose \u201cAdvanced Search\u201d and type \u201cEstonian Academy of Music and Theatre\u201d in the field \u201cInstitution\u201d).<\/em><\/p>\n"}],"is_not_a_page":false,"side_title":"CONTACT","side_info":"
\n(KA220-HED-000087144), 01.09.2022-31.08.2025, investigators Annukka Jyr\u00e4m\u00e4<\/strong> and Kaari Kiitsak-Prikk<\/strong>. The aims of E4TLI are three-fold: to improve technological literacy among non-technologically savvy faculty members, students, mentors, university managers; to collate practical recommendations from the implementation of the outlined projects for policy makers and companies to implement in their own professional spaces; to disseminate knowledge on Technologies 4.0 for non-tech educational\/training stakeholders. See more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n