Jaan Ots

b. August 12, 1988, Tallinn

Conductor and pianist Jaan Ots has graduated from the Tallinn Music High School in piano (Marja Jürisson) and trumpet (Aavo Ots). He continued at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, earning his Bachelor’s degree in piano with Mati Mikalai. He furthered his education at the Sibelius Academy in Finland, receiving his Masters`s degree in Orchestral Conducting under the supervision of Prof. Leif Segerstam and Prof. Atso Almila. During his conducting studies, he spent one year as an exchange student at the Conservatoire de Paris (CNSM) in France. He has participated in master-classes of distinguished conductors such as Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi, Thomas Sanderling and David Zinman, during which he had the chance to conduct Shanghai Opera Orchestra, the Oulu Sinfonia, the Hungarian Symphony Orchestra Miskolc and the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra in Ostrava (Czech Republic).

Jaan Ots has successfully participated in several national and international competitions, being a laureate of over 20 competition in Estonia, Latvia, Russia and Germany, including the 1st prize at the 'Steinway&Sons' Piano Competition for Young Pianists in Hamburg, Germany (2003), the 2nd prize at the International Competition for Young Pianists 'A Step Towards Mastery' in St. Petersburg, Russia (2005) and the 1st prize at the Estonian National Competition for Wind Instruments (2008).

Jaan Ots has conducted several Estonian and foreign orchestras, such as the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, the Pärnu City Orchestra, the Narva City Orchestra, the Glasperelenspiel Sinfonietta, the Jyväskylä Sinfonia (Finland), the Lahti Sinfonia (Finland) and the Hamburger Camerata (at Elbphilharmonie Hamburg).

In 2017, he made his debut at the Finnish National Ballet with Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker. He has held the position of Assistant Conductor at the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (2015–2016), assisted Giuseppe Verdi’s Otello production at the Savonlinna Opera Festival, Verdi’s Don Carlo in the Aleksander Theater (Helsinki), Georges Bizet’s Carmen at the Vaasa Theater (2018) and Dmitri Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth from Mtsensk District at the Greek National Opera (2019). in 2017-2022, Jaan Ots was the conductor of the Tallinn Music High School Symphony Orchestra.

In addition to his conducting career, Jaan is also an active chamber musician. He is a member of the Frielinghaus Ensemble (Germany) and Finnish-Estonian trio TEOS, and he is regularly performing as a guest artist in several festivals.

Homepage of Jaan Ots

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