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)
“Your remark that clams will lie quiet if music be played to them, was superfluous—entirely superfluous.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“I can get dressed earlier in the evening with every intention of going to a dance at midnight, but somehow after the theatre the thing to do seems to be either to go to bed or sit around somewhere. It doesn’t seem possible that somewhere people can be expecting you at an hour like that.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)