Greetings to all participants in, and fans of, the MustonenFest Tallinn-Tel Aviv Music Festival!
The MustonenFest Tallinn-Tel Aviv Music Festival, which will be held for the eighth time this year, is a unique cultural bridge between Estonia and Israel, and between the cities of Tallinn and Tel Aviv.
MustonenFest Tallinn-Tel Aviv has given hundreds of musicians from Tallinn and Estonia a unique opportunity to be able to make music with musicians from Israel, as well as to be able to get to see this country and to experience a touch of its very particular culture. Furthermore, without the MustonenFest Festival, thousands of people in Israel would not have been able to enjoy musical masterpieces by Estonian composers. Friendship beings with learning to know one another, and music can provide us with a common language, even if there is no other way for us to understand one another’s words.
I myself have had the honour and pleasure to take part in the festival as a representative of the city of Tallinn, on no less than three occasions. I have always been captivated by the special emotional bond and heartfelt closeness which music has been able to create between people on those occasions.
The festival’s organisers, Andres Mustonen, the festival’s founder and artistic director, together with his teams in Estonia and Israel, deserve great praise for the huge amount of time, work, energy, and commitment which they have put into organising those festivals. I am especially delighted that MustonenFest Tallinn-Tel Aviv has sought out and found ways in which the festival can take place this year, when numerous traditional festivals have unfortunately been postponed or cancelled due to the restrictions which have been established in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Wishing you many joyful encounters in music!
Lennart Sundja
Head of Culture Unit
Tallinn Culture and Sports Department
