About

Tallinn Music Week 2017
27 March – 2 April

Held each spring in Tallinn, Estonia since 2009, Tallinn Music Week is a weeklong celebration of talent, curiosity, creativity, freedom and equality.

Having started out as a music industry conference and talent showcase festival, TMW has broadened its concept further into an all-encompassing city festival, covering arts, design, technology, city space, food culture and various societal issues. Already in its 9th year, TMW is one of Europe’s fastest growing city festivals and major meeting points for Eastern, Western and Central European creative communities. The festival is presented by Nordea Bank.

TMW is the only festival in the world that hosts a dedicated programme for virtually every music genre, from outsider/underground to chart-pop, including an extensive lineup of classical composers and interpreters.

TMW annual artist award winners

Most notable international acts who have performed at the festival

and many more.

TMW today is a perfect intro and a crash course to everything we love about Estonia and the city of Tallinn – the traditions mixed with contemporary edge, the ancient history, side by side with high-tech innovation.

“It is one of the most professionally run festivals of its kind, but with the convivial attitude of SXSW.”

Nils Bernstein, Matador Records

TMW has now grown into a vibrant city festival that educates and entertains the curious mind. The whole city is its playground.

The festival offers a rich menu of fresh international music in Tallinn’s finest venues, free pop-up concerts, pub-quiz style chatter and culinary delights within its programmes: City Stage, Talks, Arts, Tastes and Urban Space.

Seymour Stein and President Toomas Hendrik Ilves at TMW2013

Tallinn Music Week is always opened by Estonia’s rock-digging president Toomas Hendrik Ilves, who has been known to quote PJ Harvey and Jello Biafra in his annual festival speech.“

The Guardian, 2014

Tallinn Music Week 2016 facts and figures

  • 250 artists from 30 countries
  • 34 676 festival visitors
  • 1036 delegates
  • 624 international delegates
  • 132 international journalists
  • 70 festival venues
  • 113 755 unique visits to the website from 144 countries

TMW awards and credits

  • 2014: British daily The Guardian and Sunday paper The Observer picked the top 5 music festivals in the world for winter breaks, among them Tallinn Music Week.
  • 2014: Tampere Music Award for Exceptional Achievements in Music to Helen Sildna, the founder and director of Tallinn Music Week
  • 2014: the “Best Host City Champion” for promoting the city of Tallinn.
  • 2012: the “Best Hotel and Convention Bar” with the festival’s hotel and convention center Nordic Hotel Forum.
  • 2011: the “Best Newish Event in 2011” award at The Great Escape music conference

Among our most important partnerships TMW represents exactly the values, energy and ambition we want to see flourishing in our society. We are proud to witness that TMW has become so much more than an exceptional music festival – it introduces new talent in various culture spheres and brings together creative people from all over the world, expanding the universe of each participant. Also, as a former symphonist and rock musician I have personal reasons to be especially fond of TMW.

Petri Nikkilä, Head of Nordea Bank Estonia (2014-2016)

TMW is our team’s way to do our part in building a better, happier, more creative, more considerate and caring society.

Tallinn Music Week is founded and run by Musiccase OÜ. The success of the festival is a joint effort of around 100 individuals, companies and organisations.

TMW is an amazing event. It has to be in the top 5 of European music events culturally, impact-wise and for the sheer volume of great ideas that use the city’s stunning heritage and old quarter and the nation’s forward-looking aesthetic perfectly. The ideas behind what TMW does culturally and politically make a real difference.

John Robb, Louder than War