At the Estonian Independence Day ceremony in Vancouver we had in our midst a cellist, Tallinn born Tiit Bürger, and like many musicians throughout the ages, certainly the best ones, he learned to play at a young age. In Tiit’s case he began to play the piano at the age of 5, and at 7 was chosen to join Tallinn’s Music School and the Estonian Music Academy. Hearing Saint-Saëns’ “The Swan” at 7 years of age inspired him to switch musical instruments, piano to violoncello, or what is commonly known as the cello - celli in the plural.
One Sunday, while attending the Tallinn Music High School Tiit was walking along Wismar street near the Grand Hotel in Tallinn carrying his half-cello, when he encountered an old man who stopped him, saying he had a full-sized cello for sale, a more preferable instrument for his then 13 years of age. Tiit’s father bought the Italian-made cello, paying a half year’s salary for the finely crafted instrument that once was part of a St. Petersburg collection. Tiit speculates that his cello was made in Italy, circa 1865. Italy is the origin country of the cello and long ago the violoncello was a much larger instrument than it is today.
By 1975 Tiit was a cellist with the Estonia Orchestra for Opera and Ballet, moving on to the Estonian Television Radio Orchestra in 1978, as first cello. In 1977 he married Merika Torn, a renown pianist. In 1988 he sang with RAM, a professional mens choir and also performed as a solo cello performer. His contact with North America began in 1989 when he attended and performed at the West Coast Estonian Days (LEP) in Los Angeles. Also in 1989 he formed a quintet "Gold & Silver" performing on television and with the Music Art Society in Estonia. He describes this quintet as similar in style to that of André Rieu’s Johann Strauss Orchestra. In 1991 his musical career took his family to Finland for a period of time, and on to performances in many other European countries.
Presently divorced, Tiit has two children, a daughter and son both of whom studied the piano fervently. His daughter is presently an opera student, adopting music as a career path, not surprising as Tiit’s parents were both professional singers. Tiit’s son has taken his own distinctive path venturing into the newspaper advertising business. Currently Tiit’s bliss is to sing Raimond Valgre songs and pursue his interest of introducing his "Gold & Silver" style of music to North America.
Wherever he travels he must buy a separate seat ticket for his cello!
