While Tallinn Baroque Orchestra (TBO) has been operating since 1987, the true renaissance for it was the spring of this year. Amongst the five most well known early music gurus of this planet is the most internationally well known instrumentalist that lives in Estonia - Andrew Lawrence-King, the king of the harp, who, after his first cooperation with TBO, made a very generous offer and despite his exceptionally busy international concert timetable, has made an enormous contribution of his time and passion to the orchestra.
 

 

There are rehearsals every week, concerts every month. The orchestra is open to all players of baroque instruments and the entire activity is pro bono - those were the rules of the game. It was entirely expected that the orchestra became a supporter of our early music field. Quality is recognized, which is exactly why we have members from almost every single one of our diverse early music ensembles. As a pure bonus, we also became close to musicians with a more academic background.

We have the pleasure to create music with many concertmasters from Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and Estonian Opera Theater Orchestra, string players from Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and even the Tallinn Police Orchestra is represented. People come weekly to rehearsals from different places of Estonia. Among our most honorable early musicians are also young talents from Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre and Tallinn College of Music and Ballet, whose skills are developing with lightning speed.

Our musicians have been investing into exclusive instruments and while the orchestra is mostly good on that front, there are still some fundamentals that need support. The talk is about violone, an instrument with the lowest register of the viola da gamba family.

 

 

And that instrument, which we were missing the most, was made by an instrument maker Roland Suits from Tartu.

Here we have to give special thanks to Roland, because TBO has had the opportunity to use that same violone for over a year now and it has become an integral part of the orchestra's sound identity. Now is the time to finally buy it. The violone is not just a masterpiece but has also been crafted using very special materials - the body is made of a flawless piece of nut tree, over one hundred years old, and the material used for the soundboard could be an object of envy for most violin masters.

 

 

Paradoxically, there are currently no instruments made by Roland Suits in his prime period in all of Estonia, despite him being our most successful string instrument maker. It seems that there is an additional, cultural layer to this purchase. Wishing to help the new wave of early music, Roland Suits asks only 8000 euros for his violone. This amount does not significantly surpass the price of materials used in the instrument's creation, but is still out of reach for Tallinn Baroque Orchestra, which is operating pro bono.

Dear supporters, we need your help now! Hopefully, though, the support will be mutual, because Tallinn Baroque Orchestra helps us get through these darkest days of the year. After an extraordinarily busy autumn season, you can already enjoy TBO's music in February of 2024. You are always most welcome there!

But if you feel like being exceptionally precise, then we also offer an opportunity to buy TBO a specific part of the instrument - from a bow string to the soundboard.