Member of the FestivalsFinder.eu by the European Festivals Association, 11th Classical Hugs International Music Festival is a critically acclaimed annual music event in Estonia. The festival explores cross-cultural and musical connections between Estonia and countries of Western Europe, Asia, The United States, and South America. Each year, the festival presents orchestral, chamber, and solo concerts at the most prestigious Estonian venues: Estonia Concert Hall, Tartu's Vanemuise Theater, House of Blackheads, and Narva's Geneva Keskus. Festival concerts also take place in Latvia, Lithuania, and Finland. The festival also presents masterclasses in piano, violin, viola, cello, double bass, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, French horn, trombone, and percussion by world-class musicians from Estonia, the United States, England, Germany, China, Poland, and other countries. The Festival's Artistic Director is Michael Bulychev-Okser (USA).

History: Then and Now

Since 2014, the Classical Hugs International Music Festival has presented concerts by the world's most acclaimed classical music artists: violinists Shlomo Mintz and Albert Markov, pianists Daniel Pollack, Mikhail Voskresensky, and Andreas Froelich, violists Paul Neubauer and Marco Miscagnia, cellist Raphael Wallfisch, and flutist Rita D'Arcangelo. Each summer, Classical Hugs Academy attracts students from over 50 countries to study with eminent musicians: pianists Olga Kern, Dmitri Alexeev, Piotr Paleczny, Grigory Gruzman, John O'Conor, violinists Shlomo Mintz, Pierre Amoyal, Pavel Vernikov, Boris Garlitksy, Felix Andrievsky, Lewis Kaplan, Michael Vaiman, Cho-Liang Lin, and Boris Vayner, violists Hartmut Rohde, Wilfried Strehle, Paul Neubauer, Alexander Zemtsov, and Isabel Villanueva, cellists Colin Carr, Raphael Wallfisch, and Maria Kliegel.  

The festival also presents specialty orchestral masterclasses with the Co-Leader of the London Symphonic Orchestra, Carmine Lauri, and the principal violinist of the Royal Opera - Covent Garden, Sergey Levitin.

Festival 2017 presented the Opera Gala with Singers from 10 Major European Theaters performing on the summer stage in Presidential Kadriorg Park.  Festival 2023 featured a concert tour in 4 Estonian cities: Tallinn, Tartu, Pärnu, and Narva. 6 concerts featured 3 orchestras, 4 conductors, and soloists from Germany, the United States, England, Japan, China, Denmark, and Albania. The 2024 edition presented masterclasses for all instruments with Professors from the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, China, and Estonia as well as 11 sold-out Gala Concerts in various locations in Tallinn, Tartu, Kohtla-Järve, and Helsinki. Participants came from 32 countries. 

Masterclasses-2025 will be offered by world-class musicians: pianists Gülsin Onay (Turkey) and Dmitri Alexeev (U.K.), violinist Pierre Amoyal (France), violist Wilfried Strehle (Germany), etc.

Concerts-2025

Festival concerts-2025 will take place in 4 Estonian cities of Tartu, Tallinn, Pärnu, Kohtla-Järve as well as in Riga, Latvia and in Helsinki, Finland. Students will be offered performance opportunities in several prestigious halls, including the Town Hall, History Museum, House of Blackheads (Tallinn), Tubin Hall (Tartu), Great Guild Hall in Riga, Latvia and the Rock Church in Helsinki, Finland. Students can perform solo repertoire (strings performing with piano accompanist), as part of a preformed chamber group, or as part of the Classical Hugs Orchestra. Selected students will also receive an opportunity to perform a solo with the festival orchestra.

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A hug is a simple expression of human warmth. A Classical Hug is an expression of an affectionate feeling through music.

The festival's mission is to demonstrate how music can bring love and peace worldwide.