Erki Pehk

Estonian conductor Erki Pehk studied piano, choir, and orchestra conducting at the Estonian Academy of Music in Tallinn where he graduated in 1993. He continued his studies in orchestra conducting in Riga at the Latvian Academy of Music. During his studies, he also participated at the Kirill Kondrashin Conductor’s Masterclass in Hilversum, the Netherlands (1990) and attended a Conducting Interpretation Course in Stuttgart with John Eliot Gardiner (1991). In 1997 he finalized his studies as a post-graduate student at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Mr.Pehk has also participated in international competitions and in 1999 and 2001 he was a semifinalist in the International Conductor’s Competition in Besancon (France).

From 1994 – 2011 he was engaged as a conductor at the Estonian National Opera in Tallinn conducting more than 700 performances of this company. He was also invited to teach conducting at the Tallinn Music College and he held this teaching position from 1992 till 1997. Mr. Pehk has furthermore been involved as Music Director at several large scale productions of classics of the musical repertoire with Estonian music theatre company Smithbridge Productions (1998-2008).

Since 2001 Mr. Pehk is the Artistic Director of the renowned Klaudia Taev International Competition for Young Opera Singers in Pärnu (Estonia) and in 2005 he was appointed Artistic Director of the Pärnu International Opera Music Festival (PromFest). For artistic achievements with this festival and for the production of Thaïs by  Massenet, Mr. Pehk was given the State Prize of Musical Theatre of Estonia 2010.

As an international guest conductor, Mr. Pehk has collaborated with the State Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theatre (Republic of Belarus), with Erfurt Theater (Germany), Rennes Opéra and Angers-Nantes Opéra (France), Varna State Opera, and Bourgas State Opera (Bulgaria) and Kaunas State Musical Theater (Lithuania). In November 2010 he made his debut in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw with the Opera Studio of The Netherlands. He also conducted tours of Die Fledermaus and Die Lustige Witwe with International Opera Productions in various theaters in Belgium and the Netherlands in 2011-2012. He has conducted concerts in many other countries like Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Russia, and Ukraine.

He collaborated with several renowned musicians: violinist Tatiana Grindenko, countertenor Max Emanuel Cencic, flute player Camilla Hoitenga, soprano Barbara Hendricks, trumpet player, and composer Markus Stockhausen, composer Sofia Gubaidulina, etc.

In 2000 he founded his own orchestra in Tallinn: the 21st Century Orchestra and he is the principal conductor of this ensemble that plays mostly contemporary but also classic repertoire from Estonian and international composers.

The most active collaboration has Mr. Pehk with the Kaunas State Musical Theatre (since 2011) and with the Ukrainian National Chamber Ensemble “Kyiv Soloists” (since 2016).