Kaspar Mänd
January 23, 1989, TallinnKaspar Mänd, the renowned orchestral and operatic conductor, studied oboe and choral conducting at the Music School of Old Town Educational College. He continued his music studies at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, receiving his bachelor’s degree in choral conducting with Hirvo Surva (2012) and his master’s degree in orchestral conducting under the guidance of Prof Paul Mägi (2014). He further developed his orchestral conducting skills at the Paris Conservatory with Prof Zsolt Nagy (2012–2013) and at the Järvi Summer Academy with Paavo Järvi and Neeme Järvi (2009, 2011, 2013). He has also participated in the master courses of Leonid Grin, Eri Klas, and Risto Joost.
Since 2019, Mänd has held the position of chief conductor of the Pärnu City Orchestra. Since 2014, he has been a conductor at the Estonian National Opera. His repertoire includes several operas, operettas and ballets, such as Donizetti’s Elisir d’amore, Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsars Bride, Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet, Hindemith’s The Long Christmas Dinner, Lehár’s Count Luxenburg, Bernstein’s West Side Story, Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, Tchaikovsky's Alice in Wonderland, The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and The Sleeping Beauty, Adam’s Giselle, Manfred MIM’s A Nation Born of Shock, Rasmus Puur’s The Colours of Clouds, Olav Ehala’s Buratino, Tauno Aints’s Karlsson on the Roof, and Eduard Tubin’s The Goblin.
Additionally, he is the conductor of the Georg Ots Tallinn Music School Symphony Orchestra since 2013. In 2016, he founded a youth orchestra, Uue Tänava Orkester (New Street Orchestra), and has led the group in performances of the complete cycles of symphonies by Beethoven and Mendelssohn. He has performed as a guest conductor of many orchestras and collectives, such as the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, the Miskolc Symphony Orchestra, the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ensemble Orchestral Kanazawa, the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, the Vanemuine Symphony Orchestra, and the Estonian National Youth Symphony Orchestra. He has also collaborated with the YXUS Ensemble.
Kaspar Mänd is also known as a choral conductor. In 2009, he founded the mixed choir HUIK!, and has been active as its chief conductor to this day. The choir has been successful in various competitions and has performed several contemporary works by Estonian composers, including Tõnu Kõrvits, Marje Sink, Evelin Seppar, Mart Siimer, and Veljo Tormis. Additionally, Mänd was the chief conductor of the mixed choir Voces Tallinn (2011–2014). On three occasions, he has conducted mixed choirs and symphony orchestras at the Estonian Song Celebration (2014, 2017, 2019).
Since 2014, Kaspar Mänd with conductor Edmar Tuul and conductor and composer Rasmus Puur has been the co-founder and leader of the Ludus tonalis concert series, which introduces music by young Estonian composers.
Kaspar Mänd is a recipient of the Estonian Choral Association Young Conductor Award (2012, 2015) and the scholarship of the Gustav Ernesaks Fund (2011).
Homepage of Kaspar Mänd
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(updated in March 2021)
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