90 years of Estonian opera

Director Veiko Tubin
Light artist Priidu Adlas
Graphic designer Mart Andreson
Production by Elo-Liis Parmas, Maret Mikk and Eesti Kontsert

On September 8, 2018, 90 years ago, the first Estonian opera “Vikerlased” was premiered, and this gave birth to the idea to dedicate one concert to the musical timeline of Estonian opera to provide the audience with an overview of the operas created by Estonian composers for almost a century. The concert programme will be framed by Evald Aav’s “Vikerlased” (1928) and Manfer MIM’s “Estonian History”. The People Born from a Fright”(2018).

Both younger and more experienced opera singers, as well as the beloved actors, will perform to the audience.

Conductor Ingrid Roose: “On September 8, 1928, the first Estonian opera “Vikerlased” by Evald Aav was premiered, and although opera experiments had previously been done by Karl August Hermann, Miina Härma, Artur Lemba and Mihkel Lüdig, only the work by Aav can only be considered a true artistic opera with national content.  In the spring of 2018, I carried out large-scale research studying Estonian operas throughout the century, starting with the opera’s predecessors such as Miina Härma’s “Grass Fairy’s Daughter” (Muruide tütar) and Karl August Hermann’s “Uku and Vanemuine”. I was really surprised to discover how many operas had been written over the 90 years. Over a hundred operas, true, quite of few of them unfinished or unperformed. But there are also many that long time ago were in the programs for years and would even nowadays sound quite relevant.  There are certainly many understandable reasons why most of these operas are no longer played. However, I think it is worth remembering and celebrating the longevity and development of the Estonian opera over 90 years. The gala of the Estonian opera is a concise timeline between 1928 and 2018, with small doses and with stops at some opera aria in every decade. One of the most important parts of the opera gala is also cooperation with historians who help give a brief overview of the story of the entire opera.”