March 22 marked exactly 100 days until the XIII Youth Song and Dance Festival “Holy is the Land” begins in Tallinn, and all over the country, preparations for the three-day festival are in full swing. More than half of the tickets to all three performances of the Dance Festival have already been sold, as have many tickets to the assigned seating sectors of the Song Festival Grounds, according to a press release.
A quick poll of the directors of various groups preparing for this summer’s Youth Song and Dance Festival indicated that they are happy to include the upcoming festival’s repertoire in their own performances. “These songs and dances can be heard and seen throughout Estonia,” said Margus Toomla, director of the Song and Dance Festival Foundation. “This makes the program more familiar ahead of the big festival and motivates singers to reach the stage under the Song Festival arch as well.”
Rehearsals are underway across the country, and according to Pärt Uusberg, artistic director of this year’s Youth Song Festival, the songs and instrumental pieces are taking on increasingly Song Festival-like dimensions. To date, a total of 330 of 485 planned preliminary rehearsals have already taken place.
Tickets for the XIII Youth Song and Dance Festival went on sale January 10. Since then, more than half of all Dance Festival tickets have already been sold, with the third and final performance proving the most in demand according to Piletilevi ticket sale figures. At the Song Festival Grounds, the most popular tickets have been those for assigned seating sectors.
Statistics indicate that Tallinn residents have shown the greatest interest to date in tickets to this year’s Youth Song and Dance Festival, having bought more than 20,000 of them already, followed by Tartu and Ida-Viru counties. The XIII Youth Song and Dance Festival “Holy is the Land” (“Püha on maa”) will take place in Tallinn from June 30 through July 2, under Youth Song Festival artistic director Pärt Uusberg, Youth Dance Festival chief choreographer Agne Kurrikoff-Herman, and Folk Music Festival director Juhan Uppin.
Tickets to the XIII Youth Song and Dance Festival can be bought online at laulupidu.ee or via all Piletilevi sales channels.
