Anu Tali (born June 18, 1972) is an

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

n conductor and one of the founders of the Nordic Symphony Orchestra.

Life and career

Tali was born in

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

. Her mother Anne Tali is a prominent mathematician. Her twin sister Kadri Tali is a music manager and the former director of the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra. She started her musical training as a pianist, and graduated from the

Tallinn Music High School Tallinn Music High School () was a special music high school in Tallinn, Estonia. History TMHS was founded in 1961 to ensure a sufficient number of quality applicants to the Tallinn State Conservatory (now Estonian Academy of Music and Theatr ...

in 1991. She continued her studies in the Estonian Music Academy as a conductor with Kuno Areng, Toomas Kapten and Roman Matsov. From 1998 to 2000, she studied at the St. Petersburg State Conservatory with Ilya Musin and later with Leonid Korchmar. She began conducting studies in 1995 with Jorma Panula at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. In 1997, Tali and her twin sister Kadri Tali founded the Estonian-Finnish Symphony Orchestra, with Anu Tali as the orchestra's conductor and Kadri Tali as its manager. The orchestra later took on the name of the Nordic Symphony Orchestra. Tali and the Nordic Symphony Orchestra made their debut recording in 2002 with "Swan Flight", for Finlandia/Warner Classics, which featured two world premiere recordings, the orchestral suites ''Ocean'' and ''Swan Flight'' by Veljo Tormis. This recording earned her the Young Artist of the Year award at the 2003 Echo Klassic Awards in Germany. Their second recording was ''Action Passion Illusion'', also on Warner Classics. In North America, Tali made her US conducting debut with the

New Jersey Symphony Orchestra The New Jersey Symphony, formerly the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO), is an American symphony orchestra based in the state of New Jersey. The New Jersey Symphony is the state orchestra of New Jersey, performing classical subscription concer ...

in January 2005. In April 2007, Tali was named music director of the

Manitoba Chamber Orchestra The Manitoba Chamber Orchestra (MCO) is a chamber orchestra based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It offers an annual subscription series at Westminster United Church, which regularly features Canada's leading soloists, such as James Ehnes and Meas ...

, and scheduled to begin in the post September 2007. However, in November 2008, the orchestra announced that it and Tali were unable to agree on contract terms, and Tali never assumed the Manitoba post. In the summer of 2006, Tali debuted at the

Savonlinna Opera Festival Savonlinna Opera Festival () is held annually in the city of Savonlinna in Finland. The Festival takes place at the medieval Olavinlinna (St. Olaf's Castle), built in 1475. The castle is located amid spectacular lake scenery. Origin The birth ...

with a new production of Carmen and also at the

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival () is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer, for five weeks starting in late July, in Salzburg, Austria, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart's operas are a focus of ...

with the Mozarteum Orchestra. Her work in contemporary music includes conducting the US premiere of Heiner Goebbels' ''Songs of Wars I Have Seen''. Tali made her first guest-conducting appearance with the Sarasota Orchestra in February 2011. In June 2013, the Sarasota Orchestra named Tali as its next music director, effective August 1, 2013, with an initial contract of 3 years. The orchestra extended her contract for another 3 years in 2016. In October 2017, the orchestra announced that Tali is to stand down from her music directorship of the orchestra in 2019. Tali and her husband Hendrik Agur, director of the Gustav Adolf Grammar School in Tallinn, were married in 2014. The couple have a child, born in May 2015. Her awards and honours include the Cultural Award of Estonia 2003 and the Presidential Award of Estonia in 2004. Tali has also recorded Estonian music with the Frankfurt RSO. In 2021, Anu Tali conducted the world premiere of Karola Obermüller's cello concerto Phosphor.

References

External links

HarrisonParrott agency biography of Anu Tali
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tali, Anu Living people 1972 births Tallinn Music High School alumni Estonian twins Estonian women conductors (music) 21st-century Estonian conductors (music)