For the first time in the history of TMW, the international music and city culture festival is expanding to include Paldiski, the centre of the Lääne-Harju Parish on the Pakri peninsula. This year’s TMW will conclude on 29 March with Paldiski Sunday, featuring concerts in churches, local cuisine and sightseeing tours.
TMW 2020 Paldiski Sunday is organised at the initiative of the Lääne-Harju Parish in cooperation with Alexela, the PAKRI Science and Industrial Park, Port of Tallinn and Paldiski Fusion.
“To breathe new life into the municipality, the Lääne-Harju Parish considers it very important to be open to new, cool initiatives, which will help our parish, with its many opportunities, become an even more attractive place,” explains the Lääne-Harju Parish municipality mayor Jaanus Saat. He adds, “Tallinn Music Week’s arrival in Paldiski should definitely reverse the image of it being a depressing small town and show the town in the light it really deserves to be seen in. We are very happy that together with the TMW team and our supporters we can offer our residents and guests an awesome cultural programme and show Paldiski as a place most certainly worthy of attention.”
“Paldiski is exciting!” says Helen Sildna, the director of TMW. “This town has a complicated past and an opportunity-laden future. Here, 50 km from Tallinn, is where memories of military bases meet stunning coastal cliffs, ports that open to the Baltic Sea, wind parks and green energy ambitions. Our festival is constantly on the lookout for new talent and tomorrow’s ideas, and this year we are glad to introduce Estonia’s new green energy centre, its inhabitants and cultural figures to our visitors. We will begin the Paldiski Sunday at the churches of St. George and St. Nicholas, as well as the portside Peetri Toll tavern, which offers the best pelmenis in Harju County.”
The TMW Paldiski Sunday starts on 29 March at 1.15 pm near the Paldiski railway station at Kivi Street 2. From there, a bus tour will take visitors to the tip of the peninsula, Bastion of Peter the Great’s naval fortress, former military sites and other historical places as well as the Paldiski South Harbour and Alexela’s development projects.
Estonian musicians Anna Kaneelina and Erki Pärnoja will perform with Prezioso String Quartet, flautist Lisa Kawasaki and Mattias Vihmann on French horn at the Paldiski St George Orthodox Church at 2 pm. The performance will feature a new take on Anna Kaneelina’s solo creation. The concert will be opened by parish mayor Jaanus Saat and the head of the Georgy church Orenti Kampus.
At 4 pm, the music programme will spread to Paldiski’s St Nicholas’ Lutheran Church with a performance by vocalist and composer Kadri Voorand, the laureate of the President’s Young Cultural Figure Award 2019, with bass player Mihkel Mälgand. The acclaimed Estonian duo will perform their signature blend of pop-like melodies, skilled technique and adventurous improvisations.
Between the concerts and sightseeing tours, visitors can enjoy healthy meals around the town. The tavern Peetri Toll, located just a stone’s throw from the Paldiski railway station, welcomes the visitors with a lunch of traditional savoury pastries and Russian-style pelmeni dumplings in an atmosphere that recreates the post-Great Northern War era. Another option is to enjoy preserves, pastries, fish dishes and other local delicacies in local homes (registration required).
Enn Laansoo, Jr., CEO of the PAKRI Science and Industrial Park, hopes that the first Paldiski Sunday will develop into a bigger and sustainable endeavour. “Paldiski is a city of unique values, a bold and well-located town. We are proud to share its messages and visions with TWM and to kickstart an exciting era of cooperation – Boundless Paldiski.”
The port town of Paldiski was established in 1718, when Peter the Great set out to build a maritime fortress in the Swedish village of Rågervik. In 1962, the nuclear submarine training centre for the Soviet Navy was built in Paldiski, and the city including the nearby Pakri Islands was closed to the average citizen. Since 2017, Paldiski has been part of the Lääne-Harju Parish.
The exciting and controversial history of Paldiski and the Pakri peninsula, as well as the beautiful nature in the area, offer a lot to discover – from the ruins of Peter the Great’s fortress and the Amandus Adamson Studio Museum to the coastal cliffs and the remains of the military base. Paldiski is also home to one of the main priority projects for the Harju County development strategy – the PAKRI Science and Industrial Park (PAKRI), which focuses on greentech challenges and innovation in finding smart solutions to creating new models for living and working environments.
The TMW Sunday in Paldiski pass is 45 euros and tickets for single events at 5 – 20 euros are on sale at Piletilevi. Payments at the home cafes (registration required) are in cash only.
TMW’s Sunday in Paldiski is organised at the initiative of the Lääne-Harju Parish in cooperation with Alexela, the PAKRI Science and Industrial Park, Alexela, Port of Tallinn and Paldiski Fusion with the support by G4S, MV Wool, Ecomari, Elmo Rent.
TMW 2020 is presented by Telia. The TMW festival is organised by Shiftworks OÜ, in cooperation with many partners and co-organisers.
The international activities of TMW, aimed at introducing Estonia as an attractive destination for those interested in music and culture, are supported by funds from the European Regional Development Fund.
TMW 2020 Paldiski Sunday programme.