Aarne Saluveer, chairman of the administrative board of the Veljo Tormis Foundation under the Estonian National Culture Foundation, said that the scholarship was initiated in 2000 by Veljo Tormis and the Estonian Choir Association with the aim of valuing nationally oriented choral work. "This year's laureate, Mariliis Valkonen, is an outstanding composer, who loves choral music and who wrote her new piece for the joint choirs especially for this year's festival," said Saluveer.

A scholarship from the Veljo Tormis Foundation is allocated in the year of the Youth Song and Dance Festival and in jubilee birthday years on Veljo Tormis's birthday on August 7. "The fact that the laureate will be announced during the performance and not at the Song Festival concert was the wish of Veljo Tormis himself, who, as a modest person, never requested it. Since it is through practice that a choral song finally achieves its perfection, handing over the scholarship in the rehearsal also has a beautiful meaning," added Saluveer. Together with him, the chairman of the board of the Estonian National Culture Foundation, Olav Ehala, presented the award to the laureate.

In the past, Veljo Tormis scholarships have been awarded to composers Ester Mägi (2004), Urmas Sisask (2006), Piret Rips-Laul (2009), artistic director of XIII Youth Song Festival Pärt Uusberg (2011) and Tauno Aints (2017) for their personal style and use of modern national sound language. ) and Rasmus Puur (2020).

The scholarship competition is organized and the scholarship recipient is selected by the administrative board of the Veljo Tormis Foundation: Taavi Esko, Tõnu Kõrvits, Aarne Saluveer, Ants Soots, Lea Tormis, Leelo Tungal.

Photo: Sven Začek