Klaudia Taev (13 April 1906 in

Saaremaa Saaremaa (; ) is the largest and most populous island in Estonia. Measuring , its population is 31,435 (as of January 2020). The main island of the West Estonian archipelago (Moonsund archipelago), it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hi ...

– 7 June 1985 in

Pärnu Pärnu () is the fourth-largest city in Estonia. Situated in southwest Estonia, Pärnu is located south of the Estonian capital, Tallinn, and west of Estonia's second-largest city, Tartu. The city sits off the coast of Pärnu Bay, an inlet of ...

) was 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 vocal pedagogue. Born into a teacher's family on the Estonian island of

, she studied as an

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

singer at the Tallinn Conservatoire, under the tutorage of Aino Tamm, the first professional opera singer in

. During World War II, she taught singing in

Yaroslavl Yaroslavl (; , ) is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historic part of the city is a World Heritage Site, and is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Kotorosl rivers. ...

, and her students included the famous

baritone A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...

Georg Ots Georg Ots (21 March 1920 – 5 September 1975) was an Estonian baritone. He sang at the Estonian National Opera from 1951 to his death in 1975. Ots gained wider recognition with his roles at the Bolshoi Theatre, particularly with his lead role in ...

. Later, other well-known Estonian singers

Urve Tauts Urve Tauts (born 2 November 1935 in Pärnu) is an Estonian opera singer (mezzo-soprano). In 1963, she graduated from Tallinn State Conservatory in singing specialty. 1960–2001, she was the soloist in Estonian National Opera. 1974–1978, she ...

, , Hans Miilberg, Viktor Gurjev,

Asta Vihandi Asta Vihandi (born Asta Kronberg; 21 July 1929 – 5 March 1993) was an Estonian opera and operetta soprano, stage and film actress, and dancer whose career began in 1947 at the age of eighteen. Vihandi's longest engagement was at the Estonian Na ...

studied under her. Taev died on 7 June 1985, due to an illness. She is remembered through an international competition for opera singers named after her - the

Klaudia Taev Competition The Klaudia Taev Competition is a competition for young opera singers. It is the main event of the Pärnu Opera Music Festival PromFest. The Competition has been named after a local legendary singing teacher Klaudia Taev. The first Competition ...

External links

Klaudia Taev
on PromFest 1906 births 1985 deaths People from Saaremaa Parish People from Kreis Ösel Voice teachers Estonian women educators 20th-century Estonian educators {{Estonia-bio-stub