ESTAbout us
THE ESTONIAN NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (ERSO) is a dynamic and versatile orchestra performing at the highest international level. Estonia’s oldest and most distinguished continuously active symphony orchestra celebrates its 100th season this year. ERSO’s history dates back to 1926 and, like that of many orchestras around the world, is closely linked to the birth and development of national broadcasting. The orchestra grew out of an ensemble established at Estonian Radio, which in the early days of broadcasting performed short pieces of music live on air between spoken segments. By 1945, the radio orchestra had developed into a full-scale symphony orchestra.
Since the 2020/21 season, the orchestra of more than 100 musicians has been led by Chief Conductor and Artistic Director Olari Elts. Neeme Järvi continues his long-standing association with ERSO as Honorary Artistic Director for Life, while Paavo Järvi is the orchestra’s Artistic Adviser. ERSO’s former chief conductors include Olav Roots, Paul Karp, Roman Matsov, Neeme Järvi, Peeter Lilje, Leo Krämer, Arvo Volmer, Nikolai Aleksejev, and, once again, Neeme Järvi.
ERSO has toured extensively and appeared at prestigious international music festivals. During the current centenary season, the orchestra will embark on concert tours to South Korea and Austria. In December 2025, ERSO performed in Ljubljana and Bregenz under the baton of Chief Conductor Olari Elts. In 2024, the orchestra appeared in Linz, Vienna, and Prague. May 2023 saw ERSO’s first tour of the United Kingdom, with 11 concerts given over the course of two weeks. In 2022, the orchestra performed under Olari Elts in Nuremberg, Munich, and Paris. At the end of November 2021, ERSO and Elts took part in Eufonie, the International Music Festival of Central and Eastern Europe in Poland.
In 2019, ERSO and Neeme Järvi opened the prestigious Festival Radio France Occitanie Montpellier and toured Central Europe, performing under Järvi in the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein, the Great Hall of the Brucknerhaus in Linz, the Dvořák Hall of Prague’s Rudolfinum, and the Festspielhaus in Bregenz, as well as under Mihhail Gerts in Erlangen and Viersen, Germany. ERSO has also appeared on many of the world’s leading stages, including the Konzerthaus Berlin, New York’s Avery Fisher Hall (now David Geffen Hall), the Grand Hall of the St Petersburg Philharmonia and the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre, the Cologne Philharmonie, Helsinki Music Centre, and Stockholm’s Berwaldhallen, among others.
ERSO’s recordings have received acclaim from leading international classical music publications and have earned the orchestra numerous prestigious awards. The most significant of these was Estonia’s first Grammy Award, received in 2004 under the baton of Paavo Järvi. At the Estonian Music Awards, ERSO’s recording of Heino Eller’s symphonic works was named Classical Album of the Year in 2020, while Erkki-Sven Tüür’s portrait album Aeris, also conducted by Olari Elts, received the same distinction in 2026. In 2020, the Cultural Endowment of Estonia’s Music Endowment also honoured ERSO and Olari Elts with its annual award for their recordings of Heino Eller’s music. ERSO enjoys successful collaborations with such renowned record labels as Chandos, BIS, Onyx, Ondine, ERP, and others.
In addition to broadcasts by Estonian radio and television channels, ERSO concerts have been featured on Mezzo and medici.tv, while broadcasts distributed through the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) have reached radio audiences across Europe.
The Estonian National Symphony Orchestra performs regularly at its home venue, Estonia Concert Hall, where audiences can hear the orchestra almost every Friday. ERSO concerts are also broadcast on Estonia’s classical music radio station Klassikaraadio, and since 2020 they have been available on ERSO TV (erso.tv), which offers both live concert streams and on-demand access to past performances.
