PILLE LILL

is one of the most well known opera singers in Estonia today. She has graduated from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (EAMT) with two professions – choir conducting and opera singing. She continued her studies in the master’s program of the London Guildhall School of Music and Drama (Prof. J. Peters) and defended her master’s degree at the Helsinki Sibelius Academy (Prof. L. Linko-Malmio). In 2004-2011 she furthered her skills in the context of doctoral studies at EAMT (Prof. Jaakko Ryhänen) and in 2005-2006 in the lied class of the University of Karlsruhe (professors Mitsuko Shirai and Hartmuth Höll). In addition, she has taken part of several world-famous musicians’ master classes (Elisabeth Söderström, Irwin Gage, Emma Kirkby, Mauriz Sillem, Wilma Vernocchi etc.) P. Lill has performed as an opera, oratorio and chamber singer in many countries. She has sung the lead role in close to 30 operas and she has cooperated with several reputed conductors. She has done many recordings for the Estonian National Broadcasting and her voice is perpetuated on a number of CD-s. P. Lill has been rewarded with the Big Dipper award for Best Female Singer (1996), she has been a laureate for Georg Ots Prize (2002), she has been a grantee of the Wagner Society Scholarship (1998) and a 3rd class honoree of the Order of Bishop Platon (2005). She has also been awarded with the UNICEF Bluebird Award (2009), the Estonian Cultural Endowment Award (2014), 4th class Order of the White Star (2016) and Esther of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Estonia of Estonia. P. Lill was a vocal teacher in EAMT from 1997 to 2013 (assistant professor from 2003) and she has given master classes in many countries (Germany, Russia, Finland, Belarus, Latvia etc.) P. Lill was a board member of Estonian Composers’ Union from 2003-2009, she is a board member of the Estonian Chamber of Culture and the Finno-Estonian Culture Fund. She is also the founder and creative director of the Pille Lill Music Foundation from 2003.

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KRISTINA KRIIT

has obtained her master’s degree in Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (Prof. Mari Tampere-Bezrodny, 2004) and furthered her skills with Prof. Igor Bezrodny, Eduard Schmieder, Pavel Vernikov and Hermann Krebbers. In addition, she has studied in Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg (2001-2002, Prof. Hermann Krebbers). K. Kriit has taken part in several international competitions, from which the most important are Heino Eller Competition in Tallinn (special prize, 1996) and Henryk Wieniawski Competition in Poland (Lublin, 1997). K. Kriit is a valued contemporary musician and she has performed as a soloist and a chamber musician in almost every country in Europe. She has twice been a scholar of the reputed Holland Music Sessions. In 2005 K. Kriit was one of the founders of Tallinn String Trio and in 2009 trio “Madrigal” with flute and piano. She is a professor and a PhD student in EAMT (Prof. Mari Tampere-Bezrodny) and a II concert master of the Symphony Orchestra in the Estonian National Opera.

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TIIA TENNO

graduated from Tartu Heino Eller Music School (teacher A. Antson) studying piano and Estonian Academy of Music and Theater (prof. H. Lepnurm, I. Maidre, A. Uibo) as well as from Herford School of Church Music studying organ (Germany). In addition, she has furthered her skills in Hamburg School of Music (prof. Wolfgang Zerer) and she has taken part of many distinguished organists’ master classes (B. Haas, W. Zerer, J. Laukvik, A. Marconi, P. van Dijk, E. Kooimann). From 1996 T. Tenno is working in Tallinn St. John’s Church as an organist and a choir leader and she is one of the founders of The Organ Fund of St. John’s Church and a board member there. She has also worked as an organist-choir leader in Schnathorst Church in Germany and Lunde Chruch in Norway and she has been the department leader of the church music department of the Estonian Institute of Theology (2004-2007). T. Tenno has cooperated with multiple outstanding interprets (Pille Lill, Oksana Sinkova, Neeme Ots, Toomas Vavilov, Arete Teemets etc.) and she has given many solo concerts in Germany, Finland, Sweden, Norway and Estonia. She has given multiple performances at Tallinn International Organ Festival, Tallinn Chamber Music Festival, Rapla Church Music Festival etc. As a soloist, T. Tenno has cooperated with the Finnish-Estonian Baroque Orchestra and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra. A lot of the music that is played by her is on the recordings of Estonian Public Broadcasting and many other collection CD-s (“Estonian Valuable Organs” – Tallinn St. John’s church organ (publisher ERES, 2000); “Baroque Pictures” with trumpetist Neeme Ots (publisher Tanel Klesment, 2015). T. Tenno is a member of the Estonian Organ Society from 1999 and a member of the Association of Estonian Professional Musicians from 2014.