28 april 2023

Tallinn supports ‘Odessa Classics’ music festival with 15,000 euros

Fifteen thousand euros will be allocated from the reserve fund of Tallinn City Government to the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra to support Tallinn’s sister city Odessa and keep the tradition of Ukraine’s largest classical music festival ‘Odessa Classics’ alive in Tallinn.

“The full-scale organisation of the festival in Odessa is unthinkable due to the war started by Russia, but many Estonian musicians and music lovers are contributing both their time and money for the second year in a row so that this important tradition is not broken. This festival essentially moved into exile in Tallinn during the war, and it is important for us to keep the cultural life of the city alive in addition to other assistance,” says Tallinn Deputy Mayor Kaarel Oja. “I’m very grateful to the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, SA Kultuuripartnerlus and all the supporters of the festival for organising it. And of course, we all hope that the festival will be able to return home next year.”

According to Kristjan Hallik, Head of the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, it is very important that Tallinn decided to support the festival organised by SA ERSO. “We can now say that the continuation of the Odessa festival is being taken care of in Estonia by the city, the state and the private sector. This festival enriches our cultural life and brings high-level concerts to the audience,” says Hallik.

The classical music festival ‘Odessa Classics’ was born in the summer of 2015 thanks to the artistic director of the festival Alexey Botvinov and his idea to make Odessa a more European city and to resist Russian military aggression.

The festival starts with ceremonial opening concerts on 25 and 26 May in the Estonia Concert Hall. After that, all music lovers can take part in the festival’s diverse programme on 28 May at Viimsi Artium, on 30 May at the Arvo Pärt Centre and on 4 June at the Heino Eller Tartu Music College. The final concert will take place again on 7 June in the Estonia Concert Hall.

A total of eight concerts make up this year’s Odessa Classics Tallinn programme; the pre-concert was held in Tallinn in March at the House of the Black Heads. This year, ‘Odessa Classics Tallinn’ will take place in Estonia Concert Hall, Viimsi Artium, Arvo Pärt Centre, Fotografiska and Heino Eller Tartu Music College. The entire festival programme can be viewed on the website www.odesstallinn.com