How many 29-year-olds do you know who have their own symphony orchestra.

For information about performances and recording by the Estonian-Finnish Symphony Orchestra, contact Eesti Kontsert, at Estonia Ave. 4; tel. (372) 6147-760, or email info@concert.ee; www.concert.ee. 

Dynamic  Duo

Two twins bring a fresh new energy to Estonia’s classical music scene with their Estonian-Finnish Symphony Orchestra. Gordon F. Sander reports. 

On a recent afternoon, an inquiring reporter sat at an outdoor Tallinn café talking to Estonia’s most illustrious twin sisters—29-year-old conductor and rising classical music star Anu Tali, and her sister, best friend, manager and creative partner, Kadri. The subject of the conversation was their “baby,” the Estonian-Finnish Symphony Orchestra.
       The high-minded, multi-purpose, multi-national symphony orchestra was founded by the two sisters on the spur of the moment back in 1997, and they’ve somehow managed to keep it going ever since. The orchestra has 90 musicians from Estonia and Finland, as well as from the United States, Russia and Great Britain; it convenes just four times a year in Estonia to perform music chosen by Anu (left column), the orchestra’s conductor and artistic manager. 
       The Estonian-Finnish Symphony Orchestra has been one of classical music’s best kept secrets, though it has begun to have its moment in the sun. 
       This past summer, in August, the orchestra had its long-awaited international debut when it performs Gustav Mahler’s celebratory, brass-tinged “Summer Symphony” at Lahti, Finland's all-wooden Sibelius Hall. It is also now releasing its first CD for Warner Music Finland OY. The events have put the orchestra, and the Tali sisters, on the international musical map. 
       Kadri, who is in charge of everything, except the music, handed a reporter a long list of the orchestra’s stated objectives. They included bringing musicians from around the world to perform together, inviting young Estonian musicians working abroad back to Estonia, presenting the works of Estonian composers in performance, and so on. 
       The only thing missing from the all-inclusive list of goals, it seemed, was the conquest of disease and starvation. 
       “You can put that in there, too,” quipped Kadri as her sister laughed. It was a welcome moment of mirth. 
       To be sure, one of the most striking things about the sisters, besides their beauty and intelligence, is how serious they are. 
       “We have to be serious,” said Kadri, who tends to do most of the talking when the two are together. “Putting on an orchestra like this is a very serious business!” 
       “Do you know what it is like to bring 90 musicians from all over the world four times a year, arrange for their transportation, housing, food, and everything else needed to keep them happy for five days? It’s like putting on a circus!” 
       “Of course, I love doing it, but that’s besides the point. It’s madness, utter madness!”
       “I agree,” said Anu, as her tornado-like sister quickly pulled out her mobile for the seventh time that afternoon and took a call from one of the orchestra’s numerous sponsors, “if we had known what was involved in putting the orchestra together, and keep it going, I don't think we would have done it.” 
       “Absolutely,” said Kadri, chiming in. “We must have been mad. I guess you could say that we are mad-about music.” 
       Both Anu and Kadri have flourishing careers outside their orchestra. This is fortunate, since neither earns a sou from their labors on the Estonian-Finnish Symphony Orchestra. Anu, the more musically gifted of the two sisters, has been working professionally as an orchestra conductor for six years, employing her baton both with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, as well as such diverse foreign symphonies as the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, Finland's Vaasa City Orchestra and Latvia's Liepaja Symphony Orchestra. 
       Kadri, the organizer and diplomat of the two, continues to work as a project manager for the state concert agency, Eesti Kontsert. In that capacity, she represents other Estonian musicians, organizes concerts and generally functions as one of Estonian classical music’s chief agents to the world. 
       But it’s “their orchestra,” as the sisters proudly call it, that the sisters are keenest to discuss. And it is a singular achievement. It’s difficult to think of another orchestra quite like it anywhere in the world. 
       The genesis for the orchestra took place quite spontaneously in 1997 when they decided to organize a concert employing both Finnish and Estonian musicians, and Finnish and Estonian music, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Finnish independence. The resultant concert in Tallinn combined a performance of “Kalevala Pictures” and Symphony No. 3 by Jean Sibelius, as well as a Suite “Swan Flight” by Estonian Veljo Tormis. The concert, jointly conducted by both Anu and the Finn Mikko Franck, was so well-received, and proved so much fun, the sisters decided to keep it going. If they could. 
       To the evident and understandable awe of their peers (how many 29-year-olds do you know who have their own symphony orchestra?)—they have kept it going. The division of duties between the two twins is quite simple. Anu focuses on the musical side, rehearsing and recording with her musical SWAT team, while spending her nights devising programs with imaginative, literary themes, like “Human,” consisting of Modest Mussorgsky's “Pictures at an Exhibition” and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade and “Love,” including Sergei Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet.”
       Kadri, the one with the organizational flair, handles everything else—including keeping her sponsors happy. 
       “That’s job number one,” she explained. “It is important to us that the orchestra is self-supporting and not dependent on the state.” 
To accomplish that, Kadri has attracted enthusiastic corporate sponsors from both sides of the Baltic-including Finnair, Hansa Business Solutions and Scandic Hotel Palace. 
       “I let Kadri take care of all that stuff,” says Anu, as her perpetually-in-motion sister Kadri answered yet another cell phone call. “She's good at that.” 
       Once the “circus is in town,” it is Kadri’s job to keep everyone happy, which is no mean feat given all the egos—and nationalities—involved. 
       “I like that part,” said Kadri, taking her cue from her sister. “I like giving musicians the opportunity to do what they can do.” 
Including your sister? 
       “Including my sister,” she responded brightly, both sisters laughing in unison. 

                                              —CITY PAPER-The Baltic States

Above photos by Malle Kosk for CITY PAPER 

Author Gordon F. Sander is a freelance writer based in London and New York. The above article, which first appeared in CITY PAPER No. 53, was his second contribution to the magazine. He has written for The New York Times and The Financial Times, and is also author of the book, Sterling:The Rise and Twilight of Television's Last Angry Man.