The Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (Eesti Muusika- ja Teatriakadeemia) began in the form of a mixed choir of the Estonia Society Musical Department (EMD) on the eve of World War I. The assembly of the Estonia Society created the Tallinn Higher Music School on November 17, 1918. The opening ceremony took place on September 28, 1919. In 1923 the educational institution was renamed the Tallinn Conservatoire. In 1938 the State Drama School was opened. In 1993 the school was renamed the “Estonian Academy of Music”. In 1995 the Drama Faculty was renamed the Higher Theatre School.
Some prominent graduates of the Estonian Academy of Music include singer Aile Asszonyi, conductors Roman Matsov, Tõnu Kaljuste, Olari Elts, Eri Klas, composers Arvo Pärt, Lepo Sumera, and Erkki-Sven Tüür.
Famous quotes containing the words academy, music and/or theatre:
“When the State wishes to endow an academy or university, it grants it a tract of forest land: one saw represents an academy, a gang, a university.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Where should this music be? I’ th’ air, or th’ earth?
It sounds no more.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Compare ... the cinema with theatre. Both are dramatic arts. Theatre brings actors before a public and every night during the season they re-enact the same drama. Deep in the nature of theatre is a sense of ritual. The cinema, by contrast, transports its audience individually, singly, out of the theatre towards the unknown.”
—John Berger (b. 1926)