Paul Hillier’s and EPCC’s birthday greetings to the Estonian Composer’s Union

I send warmest greetings to the Estonian Composer’s Union on the occasion of their 80th birthday!  It is a privilege to work in a country of such musicality. As I tour the world with the EFK I see how keenly Estonian music is received. Audiences everywhere are continually astonished and delighted at the large number of fine composers coming from what is numerically a small country. I think it’s also important that these composers represent all age-groups, so that one can truly say, not that Estonia has this or that composer, but simply that it is an outstandingly musical nation.  Let us hope that successive governments continue to recognize where their country’s greatest strength lies, the traditions this is built on and which need to be sustained, and long may it thrive!



Paul Hillier