TALLINN - Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, likes to bill itself as The Festival City, as there's always something going on and events spring up all year-round. However, the centerpiece of the cultural calendar is the NYYD Festival, which is a magnet for the very best in the high arts.
International Music Festival 'NYYD 2009' offers its guests the opportunity to spend almost five days enjoying different kinds of music and welcomes everybody to be a part of this great music event.
This year the eleventh NYYD Festival will feature a wide variety of music, ranging from jazz and rock to classical music and will concentrate activities on musical theater and multimedia projects. The festival will also feature works by revolutionary German composer, theater-director and musician Heiner Goebbels, who is known for his mixture of styles drawn from sources as varied as classical music, jazz and rock music. He is also among the world's most prominent authors of contemporary music.
Another highlight of the Fest is the world-renowned Greek composer Georges Aperghis, who works primarily in the field of experimental theater music. He is best known for composing a large amount of non-programmatic chamber music, as well as his theatrical visual effects.
According to the organizers of the festival, one of the aims of this event is to provide an international forum for composers and performers, to seek and encourage new ideas and concepts, as well as show the adventures and achievements in a variety of phenomena in the music of our time. However, one of the main goals is to create a communication and learning platform for local musicians, to develop paths of integration onto the international music scene, stimulate artistic collaborations and partnerships and to encourage the venturing into new creative areas.
The organizers hope that the fest will bring out a high turnout and help to enrich the cultural seasons of the city and the country, to promote abroad the vibrancy of Estonian cultural life and to strive to become a fresh, open-minded voice at the international arena of new music.
The first NYYD Festival took place in 1991, coinciding with the rebirth of independence in Estonia. The project received the highest accolades in the Russian and Estonian press. As the name suggests, it specializes in presenting new works by composers from all around the world. According to artistic director and composer Erki-Sven Tuur, the idea has always been "to introduce to Estonian audiences something fresh, artists who are not totally established in their own homeland."
For those who are opera lovers, during the festival the Estonian National Opera will perform the World premiere title "The Formula of Love," by Mari Vihmand. Libretto by Maimu Berg and Mari Vihmand, made after the novel "The Mathematics of Nina Gluckstein," by Esther Vilar. Published in several languages, "The Mathematics of Nina Gluckstein" has become a bestseller in France, Spain and Germany.
The soloists of the performance are well-known opera singers from the Estonian National Opera Choir, including Helen Lokuta, Rene Soom, Riina Airenne, Angelika Mikk and Janne Shevtshenko.
This performance will take its audience back to Buenos Aires in the late '50s. Well-known Argentinean writer Roberta Gomez retells the love story of Nina Gluckstein and a popular tango-singer, Santelmo. The opera meditates on issues such as to who belongs a beloved artist and his love; is there such a thing as eternal love, and what is the formula?
The fest program will also include the chamber opera "Exploration of the Indies," by Mart-Matis Lill, Ensemble U & Mart Kangro, "Harmony" and many others.
Moreover, the guests of the fest will have the unique chance to watch the NYYD Ensemble, which will present its theatrical project.
The New Music Festival 'NYYD,' organized by the Estonian Concert takes place every two years. However, this year the NYYD fest offers a new program with a large variety of different concerts, premieres of new compositions, master classes and meetings.
The international festival opens on Oct. 20 and will be held till Oct. 25, in Tallinn.
