On February 24 the Estonian Republic celebrates its 93rd birthday.

Traditionally the day begins at sunrise 7:34am with a flag raising ceremony next to Tall Hermann tower. At 9am wreaths are place on the foot of the Estonian War of Independence Monument on Freedom Square (Vabaduse Väljak).

At 9:45am a religious service takes place in Tallinn's Dome Church and at 11am the nation's armed services parade on Freedom Square.

Many of Tallinn museums and sightseeing spot are closed for the public holiday, but this is all the more reason to get acquainted with those places which are still open for visitors: The Estonian Museum of History is expecting all interested parties on the February 24 between 10am and 5pm to come to Maarjamäe Castle family outing “Long live Estonia”. There is a film program packed with romantic historical films for the old and young at heart. Top billing goes to family historical film “Atmospheres of Estonian history”. Maarjamäe castle is open for viewing due to a generous donation of a million kroon from Bank of Estonia.

Despite the cold weather, Tallinn's many restaurants expect active participants in the festivities and are offering visitors holiday themed special menus.

Further ideas for Independence Day celebrations can be found at:

http://www.tourism.tallinn.ee/fpage/tallinncard/news

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http://www.lithuaniantours.com/special-offers/tallinn---european-capital-of-culture-2011/951

Winter Jazz in Tallinn: February 12 – March 18

This year there is a chance to enjoy Estonia's innovative and unsung jazz performers. Pianists and composers Tõnu Naissoo and Urmas Lattikas both will perform music from their 2011 albums, jazz singer Kadri Voorand will be broadcast all around Europe. Foreign performers include – Donkey Monkey (Fra-Jpn), Lucia Recio – Didier Petit (Fra), Rouge Madame (Est-Fra) andSergio Bastos with Raivo Tafenau Quintet (Bra-Est).

Always innovative and evolving, Winter Jazz will give you new way to experience music.

Festival program available at www.jazzkaar.ee

Contact us to to get more information on our tours or book your weekend during Tallinn European Capital of Culture 2011:

http://www.lithuaniantours.com/special-offers/tallinn---european-capital-of-culture-2011/951

TALLINN DAYS 2011

On January 28-31 Lithuanian Tours in cooperation with Polish Airlines LOT, hotels Radisson Blu Olympia and Nordic Forum, Estonian Tourism Board and Tallinn City Tourist Office arranged an educational familiarization trip for Italian tour operators and agents to Tallinn. Among the group memebers there was also a journalist from Travel Quotidiano.

The trip was a good opportunity for our present or to-be-partners to meet with our suppliers, experience their preperties and test our operations.

During the short visit the group got acquainted with a wide choice of hotels that Tallinn has to offer, tasted meals at various city restaurants offering traditional and European cuisine, had an orientation city tour of Tallinn. At dinner kindly hosted by Radisson BLU Olympia the group met with Ms Maris Hellrand from Foundation Tallinn2011 who shared information on the main events of Tallinn - European Cultural Capital 2011.The group also met with Mr Madis Kass, Destination Marketing Cooordinator, Estonian Tourism Board, who acquainted the guests with the main goals for the Italian market. We would like to thank all our partners who contributed a lot in arranging the FAM trip Tallinn.

12th annual baroque music festival in Tallinn

The opening concert of the baroque music festival, entitled ‘Jerusalem, Holy City’, will take place on 28 January at 7.00 pm at the Estonia Concert Hall. A musical homage to the holy city, it will feature eponymous works by seven composers.

The opening concert will feature a mixed choir with the Latvian and Estonian State Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andres Mustonen.

Israel-born violinist Pavel Vernikov is one of Europe’s greatest, and plays an instrument the likes of which are rarely heard in Estonia – a Guarnieri ‘Baron Knopf’ dating from 1743.

The festival’s guests also include the baroque ensemble La Fenice (France), the prestigious vocal group Die Singphoniker (Germany), Natalia Gutman (cello, Russia), Joel Frederiksen (bass and lute, Germany) and many more. The final chord will be struck by the gala concert ‘Bach and Sons’, featuring players from the Tallinn Philharmonic and many soloists from Estonia and abroad. The artistic director of the festival is Andres Mustonen.

The festival will take place in conjunction with the Estonian State Symphony Orchestra, the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and the Tallinn Philharmonic:

http://www.concert.ee/baroque_music_festival_2011

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http://www.lithuaniantours.com/special-offers/tallinn---european-capital-of-culture-2011/951

15 000 people attended the opening ceremony of European Capital of Culture Tallinn 2011

Member of the board of Tallinn 2011 Jaanus Mutli thanked everyone who came to the Theatre Square on New Year’s Eve to celebrate the start of Capital of Culture. „I saw thousands of happy faces during that night and I hope that all of them will attend many other events of Capital of Culture during 2011,“ said Mutli.

The highlight moment of the opening ceremony of European Capital of Culture at Theatre Square in Tallinn was the arrival of an UFO.The UFO, hanging from a 100 m crane, was purpose-built of steal, plywood and foil for the Capital of Culture opening ceremony.Immediately before the arrival of the UFO the spectators saw a video clip in which the giants of European culture – the Coliseum of Rome, Eiffel Tower of Paris and Brandenburg Gates from Berlin – landed in the new European Capital of Culture. The clip was produced by creative director Andrus Kõresaar and Produktsioonigrupp OÜ.

„Every capital of culture throughout the 25 years has attempted to amaze with something unprecedented during the opening ceremony. But considering the different budgets, we are not so wealthy as to import big international names. So we decided to take a more creative path,“ commented the creative director of the opening ceremony, Foundation Tallinn 2011 programme director Jaanus Rohumaa. „Half-jokingly we could say, we sent invitations to very far away and received a reply – our invitation reached the universe,“ added Rohumaa.

Together with the team of three the UFO weighed almost 1000 kg. In addition to Andres Mirme, who came out of the machine dressed as an alien to wave to people, the flying saucer also housed two helpers, Oliver Kulpsoo and Priit Kukk, who took care of the lights and laser rays of the UFO. The UFO was designed by Enar Tarmo, the technical director of Von Krahl theatre and Stunts OÜ, it was built by Management OÜ. The live broadcast on Estonian TV was watched by 250 000 viewers.

The photos of the opening event are in the Experimental Gallery: http://galerii.tallinn2011.ee

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"For Love, Not Money" – 15th Tallinn Graphics Triennial

The 15th Tallinn Graphics Triennial will be held at the Kumu Art Museum. The ‘For Love, Not Money’ exhibition will look at contemporary graphics in the broader context of the creation of and trends in modern art.

The title refers to a theme which incorporates a number of definitions, including addiction, list, dedication, obligation, family, love, passion, objectification, romance, religion, political ties and sex. The project will be attempting to reflect current trends in modern art, set against the backdrop of the global financial crisis, and to examine problems associated with the creation, exhibiting and reception of art in this context.

Contributing to the exhibition will be 51 invited artists and 63 additional artists who won places as part of a fiercely contested international competition. Part of the main exhibition will showcase the work of the grand prix winner from the last triennale, Colombian artist Óscar Muñoz. The triennale also traditionally shines the spotlight on art from the Baltic States, maintaining the fundamental identity of the event through the participation of artists from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The exhibition will focus on the latest trends in modern art, including video, performance, photography and print media.

In addition, Kumu will also host works by grand prix winners from the Ljubljana graphics biennale – the oldest international event of its kind – as part of ‘Mapping’, an exhibition created by biennale curator Lilijana Stepančič.

Website: http://www.triennial.ee

Tallinn reveals full schedule of Culture Capital 2011 events and projects

The city of Tallinn presented on Monday a program book of the European Culture Capital 2011 year, which includes nearly 250 projects and around 7,000 events.

Foundation Tallinn 2011 program manager Jaanus Rohumaa said that 70% of the events are things not done in Tallinn before and almost all Estonian culture top players have been included. He stressed especially the big share of theatre and music projects.

There are 8-10 events that should bring together more than 50,000 people, the youth song and dance festival, Sea Festival, Freedom Song being some of them.

“The peak of the program arrives understandably sometime at the beginning of summer, but in April things will get already very busy,” Rohumaa said.

Foundation Tallinn 2011 board member Jaanus Mutli invited everyone to the party at the Theatre Square in Tallinn in the evening of December 31 when the Culture Capital year is being furtively inaugurated.

http://www.tallinn2011.ee

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*New Year Celebration with Culture Capital of Europe opening program in Tallinn
*Tallinn European Capital of Culture travel packages

Tallinn 2011 presents new logo and slogan

Estonian culture foundation Tallinn 2011 presented new logo and slogan.

The slogan sounds "Kultuur kutsub" meaning "Culture Calls" and it is aimed to speak to the audience and tell that the next year Tallinn is the symbol of European culture. The marketing logo and slogan were developed by Midfield Ltd.

As reported, total costs of the project Tallinn 2011 are 17.5 million euros. This sum includes all expenses related to the organization and implementation of the event, i.e. marketing, management, promotional and other costs. Initially, two times larger sum was intended for this purpose, but in course of deterioration of economic situation costs have been decreased dramatically; nevertheless, as organizers pointed out, the quality of the event has not decreased due to the lesser finance.

Various events are planned in Tallinn next year – Maritime Museum opening in June 2011, Urban projects, Tallinn Marathon, Tallinn Song and Dance Festival, Tallinn Maritime Days with a regatta, demonstration of ancient ships, theatre plays and a fish market, MIM Goes Sustainable, European Film Academy Awards Gala Presentation, No 99 Straw Theater – a huge house built of straw, the works for this object have started in March and are going to conclude in May, Plektrum and Tallinn Music Week mainly intended for the younger audience, Surprises and ideas, including such creative events as reading-out loud of books in public transport to attract passengers' attention and involve them in exciting world of books, graffiti events, outdoor posters, printing shirts' classes, Christmas Market, and offer of souvenirs, related to Tallinn 2011.

http://www.tallinn2011.ee/eng