“All They Have is Their Culture”

The total population of Estonia is just 1.3 million, but the diversity of its cultural scene belies the country’s small size. Estonian classical music alone boasts the renowned Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, several opera ensembles, an active choral scene, and groups specialized in early and contemporary music. Composers have often taken on roles as public intellectuals in Estonian society. In 1988, Lepo Sumera, whose music is still regularly performed, became newly independent Estonia‘s first Minister of Culture following the collapse of the Soviet Union; since the 1990s, Arvo Pärt has served as something like an international ambassador and moral arbiter for the country. 

Sumera’s former composition student Jüri Reinvere is one of Estonia’s most internationally successful composers, with performances by ensembles like the Berlin Philharmonic. But following in his predecessor’s footsteps, Reinvere, who now lives in Frankfurt, Germany, also works as a political journalist and commentator, writing regularly for Estonia’s largest daily, Postimees. (In 2022, Reinvere was named “Opinion Leader of the Year.”) Since the legendary Singing Revolution of the 1980s, music and politics appear closely linked in Estonia.