The Estonian Symphony Orchestras Association (ESOL) is a sub-union of Estonian string and symphony orchestras, which was founded in 1999 and was active for only a few years, organizing nationwide youth symphony orchestra days, festivals, concerts, etc. The union's activities were restored in 2010. In 2025, the union is made up of 26 actively operating youth symphony and string orchestras with more than 800 players.

ESOL organizes exciting and necessary projects aimed at Estonian youth orchestras. The Association's major goals in the near future are organizing the next festival in Rakvere, organizing the performance of the symphony orchestras at the 2028 Youth Song Festival and a large orchestral concert before the Song Festival, assisting in the activities of our youth orchestras, organizing joint concerts, a national orchestral forum, further training in conducting, and the activities of the alumni orchestra of music schools, promoting and creating a system for the study of orchestral instruments. ESOL's priority is also the introduction of broader and more systematic orchestral study in music schools, organizing festivals, concerts, seminar-study days and other events, exchanging repertoire between the Association, our orchestras' sheet music collections, and the sheet music collections of other orchestral associations in Europe, mediating information on international festivals, participating in international cooperation projects and orchestra festivals elsewhere in the world. ESOL has established 4 new youth symphony orchestras with more than 160 players (the national music school alumni symphony orchestra, the Narva Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Tallinn University Symphony Orchestra and the Livonian Youth Orchestra (Liivimaa Noorteorkester)). The ESOL sheet music collection contains over 1,800 works, more details can be viewed in the electronic catalogue.

The most important event of 2025 was the successful organisation of the XI Youth Symphony Orchestra Festival, where the orchestras gave concerts in their home schools and in Tallinn's cultural and shopping centres, and the final concert of the festival took place in the concert hall of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. That year, the foundation of a new national music school alumni symphony orchestra was also laid, with 60 young musicians aged 19-25. The XII ESOL Festival will be held in Rakvere in November 2026.

 

ABOUT THE HISTORY AND ACTIVITIES OF ESOL

The Estonian Symphony Orchestras Association (ESOL) was founded in 1999 and during the first few years it organized nationwide youth symphony orchestra days, festivals and concerts. In March 2010, the association resumed its activities after a several-year break.

Since 2011, ESOL has organized everything related to symphony orchestras' participation in the song festival: repertoire, rehearsals, percussion rehearsals, auxiliary activities supporting the acquisition of repertoire and study camps, and after the song festival, appreciation evenings have been organized for the conductors, teachers and organizers of symphony orchestras. In 2011, ESOL helped organize the performance of symphony orchestras at the 11th Youth Song Festival and a very successful youth orchestra concert was organized on the eve of the song festival at the Viru Keskus Katusekino.

In February, 2012, the association organized a youth orchestra concert at the House of Blackheads. In addition, seminar-study days and information sessions for association members were held in Viljandi and Tallinn.

On April 21, 2013, a large youth orchestra festival was organized in Narva, where a 160-member joint orchestra performed in the final concert, and as a result of this festival, the Narva Youth Symphony Orchestra began its activities under the leadership of ESOL.

Since 2013, performances of youth orchestras have been organized on Tallinn Town Hall Square as part of the Old Town Days.

In September, 2013, the Tallinn University Symphony Orchestra began its activities on the initiative and under the organization of ESOL, which today is a 40-member high-level concert collective with active activities, which has performed in Latvia, Lithuania, Belgium, Sweden, Finland and Germany.

On November 24, 2013, an orchestra festival was held at the Valga Cultural and Recreation Center, with the aim of creating a regional orchestra for Valga County. Such an orchestra, called the Livonian Youth Orchestra, began operations in January 2014 under the leadership of the association, and today, with its 60 members, it is one of the largest youth symphony orchestras in the country.

In 2014, ESOL helped organize the performance of symphony orchestras at the general song festival in Tallinn and on the eve of the song festival, organized an international youth orchestra concert at the Viru Keskus Katusekino, where orchestras from Taiwan, Germany, South Africa and Estonia performed.

An important undertaking of the Estonian Symphony Orchestras Association has also been to continue the tradition of youth orchestra festivals.

On November 16, 2014, the ESOL Festival was held at the Pärnu Concert Hall with the participation of 8 orchestras, the finale of which was a very successful performance of Jean Sibelius's "Finlandia" by a 200-member joint orchestra conducted by Risto Joost.

On April 19, 2015, the festival was held at the Paide Cultural Centre, where the joint orchestra, conducted by Jüri-Ruut Kangur, preformed Pärt Uusberg's new work "Avanemised", which was commissioned by ESOL.

On February 13, 2016, the VII Youth Orchestra Festival took place in the Estonia Concert Hall. This time, 11 youth orchestras performed, and in the final of the marathon concert, the program of the XII Youth Song Festival symphony orchestras was performed.

On November 3-4, 2017, the VIII Youth Orchestra Festival took place in Tartu, which was the largest number of participants so far - 17 orchestras with more than 600 players participated. There were a total of 15 concerts in the framework of the festival, 11 of which were given in Tartu schools and 3 in shopping centers, and at the final concert of the festival in the Vanemuine Concert Hall, the participating orchestras mostly performed as a combined orchestra of 2-3 orchestras. In the final concert, ESOL commissioned the premiere of Rasmus Puur's new work "Selget südant" performed by the festival orchestra and conducted by Normunds Dregis (Latvia).

8-9. On November 2019, the 9th Youth Orchestra Festival took place in Jõhvi, which also celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Estonian Symphony Orchestras Association. At the end of the concert, the festival orchestra performed Pärt Uusberg's work "Avanemised", commissioned by ESOL, again under the baton of Jüri-Ruut Kangur. ESOL honorary member certificates were awarded to Tonio Tamra and Jüri-Ruut Kangur.

On December 5, 2021, a joint Christmas Eve concert was held in cooperation with the Estonian Chamber Choirs Association and the Estonian Symphony Orchestras Association.

The ESOL X Youth Orchestra Festival took place on November 12, 2023 in the new Viimsi "Artium" concert hall, where in addition to the performances of 2-3 joint orchestras and individual orchestras, the program of the symphony orchestras of the 2025 General Song Festival was also performed.

The ESOL XI Youth Symphony Orchestra Festival took place on November 14-16. November 2025 and it was the largest ever held. 21 orchestras with 700 musicians participated and 21 concerts were held: in schools in ten locations across Estonia, in shopping centers in Tallinn and Tartu, in cultural centers in Tallinn, and the final concert was in the large hall of the Estonian Academy of Music, where 15 orchestras performed in 6 combined orchestras, in addition to the guest orchestra "Simfukai" from Lithuania and the festival orchestra under the direction of Kristjan Järvi.

 

CERTIFICATES OF COMPETENCE, HONORARY MEMBERS, COOPERATION, ETC.

Since 2015, ESOL has been awarding annual awards. The first award recipient was Tonio Tamra. Since 2017, ESOL has been awarding honorary membership certificates. The first honorary membership certificates were awarded to Eve Luha (founder and first chairman of ESOL) and Mati Uffert (long-time conductor of the Pärnu Music School String Orchestra) and were presented at the closing concert of the 2017 ESOL festival in Tartu. In 2019, Tonio Tamra, long-time director of Viljandi Music School and developer of the youth orchestra movement, and Jüri-Ruut Kangur, long-time chairman of ESOL, were named honorary members of ESOL. In 2024, Toivo Peäske - conductor of the Virumaa Youth Orchestra and the Virumaa Chamber Orchestra and long-time director of the Rakvere Music School - was appointed an honorary member of ESOL, and in 2025, Kaido Otsing - director of the Tartu I Music School and long-time conductor of the symphony orchestra and distinguished horn teacher.

Starting in 2020, ESOL will issue a certificate of competence to conductors of symphony orchestras, symphony orchestras, chamber orchestras and string orchestras.

ESOL has also collaborated with EMTA students in the run-up to the last song festivals, who have taught repertoire to orchestras participating in the song festival in places all over Estonia as part of their pedagogical practice, participated in song festival rehearsals and conducted group rehearsals.

In cooperation with the Estonian National Broadcasting (ERR), concerts of youth orchestras have been organized in the "Noorte stuudio" program on Klassikaaraadio for several years. In March 2025, 4 orchestras performed at the "Noorte stuudio".

In cooperation with other music organizations and the state, ESOL was also a participant in the "Every Child Has an Instrument" ("Igal lapsel oma pill") project from 2015 to 2018, through which dozens of new instruments were purchased for symphony orchestras.

 

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

Undoubtedly the largest event in the Union's activities to date was the 9th European Orchestra Festival organized in Tallinn in the spring of 2012, which was attended by over 700 amateur and youth orchestra musicians from 12 European countries and 26 orchestras. The festival included workshops led by experienced conductors and nine festival concerts, including a grand final concert in Tallinn's Freedom Square. The organization of this major international event received many words of praise from the participants and also attracted attention in Estonian music life. In cooperation with Eesti Kontsert and the Baltic Arts Workshop, the orchestras that participated in the festival also took part in a so-called follow-up tour in St. Petersburg and performed in representative halls there.

In June 2015, 3 of our youth orchestras successfully participated in the 10th European Orchestra Festival in Cremona, Italy, with the support of ESOL, and concerts were also given at the Milan EXPO. Our orchestras have also participated in the European Orchestra Festival later - in 2018, the Võru Music School Orchestra participated in Bergen, Norway, in 2022, 4 Estonian orchestras participated in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in 2025, the Põltsamaa Music School Chamber Orchestra participated in Avignon, France.

In 2016, more active cooperation began with other Baltic countries, and that year, 3 orchestras from Estonia participated in the Baltic Youth Orchestra Festival in Daugavpils, Latvia. In April 2023, 2 of our orchestras participated in the Baltic Orchestra Festival in Vilnius, Lithuania. In 2024, the very large Eurochestries Baltic Youth Symphony Orchestras Festival took place in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in cooperation with ESOL and other partners. 8 concerts were held in the 2024 Capital of Culture in Tartu, Võru, Viljandi, Valga and Põlva. 36 orchestras with 1,500 musicians participated in the festival. 14 Estonian orchestras participated (560 musicians in total). Our young people also played in the Baltic Youth Symphony Orchestra.

In February 2018, the Eurochestries International Congress was organized in Tallinn, where over 40 delegates from 12 countries around the world participated to discuss the movement of young symphony orchestras and issues related to festivals.

In November 2023, the Baltic Youth Orchestras Conference was organized in Viimsi, and in 2025. in March, the Baltic Youth Orchestras Youth Conference will be held in Pärnu.

ESOL has been a member of the European Orchestra Federation (EOFed) since 2010, and Jüri Ruut Kangur (ESOL Chairman 2010-2019 and from 2025) has also been the EOFed President since 2019.

Under the auspices of ESOL, many of our youth orchestras have participated in international festivals in Europe, etc., and our musicians have participated individually in international orchestras, such as 8 young Estonian musicians participating in the Eurochestries European Youth Orchestra project in France in April 2025. Estonian delegations have also participated in international conferences in Europe, thanks to the organization of ESOL.

 

Estonian Symphony Orchestras Association was founded in 1999 and reestablished in 2010

 

In 2012, the 9th European Orchestra Festival was organized in Tallinn

 

The Union includes 27 active youth symphony and string orchestras