The Tartu Winter Music Festival 2017 begins on the first day of the year and fills a week with festive New Year’s music at St. John´s Church, until January 8, 2017.
Tartu Talvemuusika Festival, the Tartu Winter Music Festival, in Estonia’s second largest city, is at its fourth edition next year. It is a festival of chamber music, which brings together some of the best soloists and musicians at St. John´s Church (Jaani kirik) for the first week of January. The program kicks off January 1st at 14:00 with baritone Atlan Karp and organist Elke Unt in the Happy New Year! opening concert.
The IV edition of the Tartu Winter Music Festival continues with an evening concert on January 2nd at 18:00, “From Purcell to Beatles,” featuring the Tartu Brass Ensemble. Then, on January 3rd there are several concerts including the “New Year Greeting” at 18:00 with Tartu Horn Quartet, “New Year’s Music on the Guitar” with Priit Peterson at 14:00, and so on.
On January 4th, Saimi Kortelainen (violin), Hanna Anett Peiel (cello), and Arko Narits (piano), answer the question “If the Spirit of Tartu were French…?!” at 18:00. On January 5 at the evening concert you can enjoy performances by Helis Oidekivi (flute) and Karen Kriit (viola) under the theme “Winter Romance.” January 6 features three concerts, one at 12:15 (Noon Music Quarter), one at 14:00 – “Back to the Roots”, and one in the evening, “Painful, but Beautiful,” with Ivo Posti and Kristo Käo. Two concerts follow on January 7, at 14:00 “Traces of the New Year’s Eve” with Maila Laidna and Tõnu Kalm, and in the evening, at 18:00, “Hotkeys” with pianists Jorma Toots and Ebe Müntel. The last day of the festival ends with “Musical Journeys” featuring Olja Raudonen and Reet Laube at 14:00, and “Wintry Sunrays” with Linda-Anette Suss and Andre Hinn, at 18:00.
The Tartu Winter Music Festival is a favorite among the locals but attracts many foreign music lovers as well. Tickets are available at the concert venue before each event, and are reasonably priced: 8 € for adults; 6 € for seniors, teachers, and students; 5 € for teachers and students from music schools; and free for children aged 10 or less.