The Melbourne Estonian Women’s Choir is warming up for something truly special — Laulupidu 2025, Estonia’s beloved national song festival. It’s been a journey full of music, memories and plenty of laughter along the way. In the article below, choir conductor Hilja Toom shares what it’s taken to get to this point, and what singing in Tallinn means to her and the choir.

The article below has been written by Hilja Toom.

Refreshed, renewed, eager and ready for the future, the Melbourne Estonian Society “Kodu” Women’s choir (MEÜ Naiskoor) is on the way to Laulupidu.

Our new-look choir will showcase songs from Laulupidu 2025 at our fund-raising concert to be held at Estonian House in Melbourne, Sunday 18th May 2025 at 2pm. Come and be part of the celebrations as we prepare for our historic trip to Tallinn.

On any given Sunday morning at Estonian House in Melbourne you can hear the sounds of women’s voices hard at work, singing scales and learning new and unfamiliar songs interspersed with cries of exasperation and delight and lots of enthusiastic chatter and laughter. At the same time, the conductor (me) might be seen sitting quietly at the piano, shaking her head, wondering “what have I got myself into?”

Excitement is building as the choir enters its final weeks of rehearsal before leaving for Laulupidu. It has been a lot of hard work, but the satisfaction of learning and mastering new and more complex repertoire is immense. With three audition recording sessions sent to Estonia, we hope to cement our place as a “select” choir.  As a select choir (valiknaiskoor) we would sing with the regular choirs as well as perform additional repertoire at the opening concert with other “select” choirs. 

The repertoire of Laulupidu has evolved since the Soviet times, yet remains a gathering of Estonians from near and far, celebrating our deep cultural and spiritual connection expressed in song. Old familiar songs have been replaced with new and interesting works, many of which have been composed for this occasion, whilst retaining significant older songs such as Tuljak, Ta lendab mesipuu poole and Mu isamaa on minu arm. 

The MEÜ “Kodu” Naiskoor has also evolved from its beginnings as a small but keen group of refugee Estonian women determined to provide music for an Independence Day celebration in the 1950’s to the current 22-member choir excitedly preparing for their trip to Laulupidu.  

So, who is the choir nowadays? Some people remember the very small group remaining after the original and older members retired from the choir. Immediately after the COVID lockdowns the same small choir became very active providing music for the few events at Estonian House, as well as representing our Society in many outside functions such as the Brunswick Music Festival; combined Baltic events including the commemoration of deportations; fundraising events for Ukraine, alongside Baltic, Polish and Ukrainian choirs at the Palais Theatre and Brighton Grammar School. We were also guest artists at a Cantabile Choir Concert and were invited to perform at the St Kilda Festival, but had to decline because our dance card was quite full.  

The MEÜ “Kodu” Naiskoor members range in age from 13 years old to … ladies “of a certain age”, including four mother-daughter pairs and a couple of sisters. Some of our singers were preceded in the choir by their mothers, grandmothers and other family members, showing a strong continuing Estonian women’s choral tradition in Melbourne. Having young dedicated singers within our ranks really bodes well for the continuation of the choir well into the future.  

Imbi reflects:

”Having the opportunity to teach my daughter about our heritage through learning the songs and preparing for Laulupidu has been such a special experience. We are very proud to have contributed to the Melbourne Women’s choir being selected for this very special event, even though we won’t be there singing shoulder to shoulder with our choir family in July.”

For some people this is the first time to perform in Tallinn. Other members sang with Kooskõlas choir based in Sydney for the 2019 Laulupidu, and I sang with Toronto’s Estonia Koor at the 1990 song festival when Estonia was still under Soviet rule, and then again in 1994 in newly independent Estonia. Those were certainly remarkable times and I look forward to seeing how things have changed.

Eva, one of our Estonian-born singers says:

“It’s very special to return to Estonia as an adult and sing at the national song festival after having sung at the festival many times before as part of the Ellerhein Girls choir. I feel proud to be part of our Melbourne choir and represent Australian Estonians at this year’s Laulupidu.”

Regina, one of our newer members, who sang at the 2023 Latvian Song and Dance Festival in Riga told me:

”With both Latvian and Estonian background, I have been a member of the Latvian mixed choir (‘Daina’) and I was keen to challenge myself with the very different language and the opportunity to be part of Laulupidu 2025. The community and choir have been very welcoming and I look forward to coming to practice each week.”

And Ann reflects on preparing for the song festival.

“I’ve very much enjoyed the challenge of learning the songs and then trying to put all the parts together — sometimes not so easy but with Hilja’s leadership and input from choir members we are managing to create beautiful harmonies. Looking forward to the Laulupidu experience with the Naiskoor. Very exciting!”

One final reflection from Tiina, sums up beautifully what it means to take part in Laulupidu.

“There’s all the obvious stuff about being part of a choir. Community, women coming together, including mothers and daughters, old and new friends. What rings true for me (are) ‘those’ moments, when the noise of everyday life fades away, when a song you love, hits those magic harmonies with the other singers, while striking something deep in your soul that connects you to family, heritage and ancestors long gone. Then you get to share that with others. That’s what we work for. It’s a privilege to take part in Laulupidu 2025.”

So again, please do come and join us for our celebratory concert this Sunday, 18 May 2025 at 2pm, at Estonian House in Melbourne (43 Melville Road, Brunswick West).

Purchase tickets online at https://events.humanitix.com/choir-concert

Thank you.

Hilja Toom, Conductor, Melbourne Estonian Society “Kodu” Women’s Choir.

This article was first published in May 2025 Teateleht.