19:00
Online from The Widget Factory and the Institute of Genomics of the University of Tartu
This time, the festival greetings will reach the audience virtually from the Widget Factory in Tartu. The opening event will be hosted by Estonian soprano Pirjo Jonas who will guide us through the exciting experience of our first ever virtual festival. Spanning over the Baltic States, the festival was inspired by the keyword “DNA” and thus we are going to visit one of the most important scientific establishments in Estonia – the University of Tartu Institute of Genomics – where top scientists study the genetic versatility of the modern human; these are also the headquarters of the Estonian Genome Project and the science centre combining genomics, evolution and personalised medicine. The Estonian Genome Project of the University of Tartu has created a national biobank with already over 200,000 Estonian members – about 20% of the adult Estonian population.
At the opening event, the organisers and Artistic Directors of the festival Helena Tulve, Timo Steiner, and the Chairman of the Estonian Composers’ Union and the Artistic Director of the Tartu programme Märt-Matis Lill will introduce the topic and programme of the festival. The Institute of Genomics and its operations will be introduced by the Director of the institute, Professor of Evolutionary Genomics Mait Metspalu.
For the first time, the audience of the Baltic Music Days shall also hear virtual greetings from the Chairman of the Lithuanian Composers’ Union Mykolas Natalevičius and the Chairman of the Latvian Composers’ Union Rolands Kronlaks.