Mariliis Lahesalu

Mariliis Lahesalu (soprano) was born and raised in the small town of Kadrina in Lääne-Viru County. She studied flute and piano for eight years at a children’s music school and later studied singing at the Rakvere Music School under teacher Kelli Pärnaste. She has been singing for as long as she can remember, both as a soloist and in choirs.

Despite a strong desire to become a historian, after graduating from Kadrina Secondary School, Mariliis chose to continue her studies at Tallinn University (BA 2017) in music pedagogy, specializing in conducting under the guidance of Merike Aarma and Raul Talmar. After university, she studied classical singing at the Georg Ots Tallinn Music School under teacher Eha Pärg (2017–2020), with the goal of joining the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir. She successfully passed the audition and has been a member of the choir since autumn 2019.

She also studied classical singing at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (MA 2023), focusing on oratorio and ensemble singing where her teacher was Jörg Dürmüller (Switzerland).

In her free time, Mariliis enjoys spending time with her family and friends, as well as folk dancing, sports, and reading. You can hear her voice on several recordings and albums, and in addition to singing in the Chamber Choir, she works as a vocal coach with several amateur choirs.

It is said that Mariliis sang before she started speaking, so singing comes to her as a natural way of being and accompanies her at all times.