Estonian Composers’ Union and International Society for Contemporary music (ISCM) have
announced an international open call for selecting the musical works to the programme of the
9-days-long festival World Music Days 2019 that will take place in collaboration with the
festival Estonian Music Days 40 th Anniversary in 2019.
International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) is the most important international
network of members from around fifty countries, devoted to the promoting and presentation of
contemporary classical music. ISCM is an immense network in the field of contemporary music.
Musical works are welcome from more that 60 member countries; there are 14 different
categories of choice. A part of the festival programme introduces the works by Estonian
composers according to the tradition; another part consists of international musical works from
all around the world, selected during the contest. At the recently held festival in Beijing on May
19-26 Estonia was represented by composer Marianna Liik whose musical work “Adapt to
prevailing stream and become able to see clearly” was performed by Moscow Contemporary
Music Ensemble.
The theme of the 2019’s festival is “Through the Forest of Songs” that is dedicated to
choral music. Estonia as the location of the festival gives a good opportunity to introduce
Estonian contemporary music, professional ensembles, interpreters and choirs as well as the
world’s music to international audiences.
Festival’s artistic directors Märt-Matis Lill and Timo Steiner aim at interconnecting
contemporary music with various creative fields such as performance art, literature,
architecture and video art.
According to Märt-Matis Lill, the World Music Days in Estonia are definitely unique due to at
least two emphases – first, numerous concerts by various choirs are held in Estonia since the
tradition of choir music has a very long history here and thus is something that deserves to be
performed and introduced to the international audiences; secondly, the focus of the festival lies
on the intersections of music and other fine arts as well as on exploring the position of music
in the extremely diverse and fast-paced experimental context of the present day.
Among the festival performers several top professional musical collectives in Estonia have been
announced, including Estonian National Symponic Orchestra, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber
Choir, Estonian National Male Choir, Ellerhein Girls’ Choir, chamber choir Collegium Musicale,
vocal ensemble Vox Clamantis, Ensemble U etc. Concerts will be held in unique venues in
Tallinn, Tartu and Alatskivi. Also, it is quite essential to keep dialogue between classical and
other musical disciplines like jazz and folk music.
Lill says that the first feedback from international music community has been enthralled and
enthusiastic. Furthermore, there is a reason to be expectant – the World Music Days 2019 will
be the contemporary classical music event with the largest international reach ever held in
Estonia.
More detailed festival programme will be announced after the deadline of the competition
September 10, 2018.
More information:
www.worldmusicdays2019.ee