Tartu Academic Male Choir are the oldest consistent male voice choir in Estonia. In 2012, the choir celebrated their 100th anniversary. The purpose of the choir is to unite singers with an academic background in friendship and music, always trying to aim higher on artistic levels. TAM consists of students and academic personnel of the University of Tartu and the Estonian University of Life Sciences, as well as men from various other walks of life, all together about 50 currently active members.
TAM’s current chief conductor Kuno Kerge joined with the choir at 2012. The musical level is also preserved and improved with the help of conductor Made Ritsing and also the vocal training specialist Taavi Tampuu.
TAM’s musical repertoire is quite versatile – Western choral music and Estonian male choir classics, but also lighter music spiced with choreography are performed, folk music arrangements have their own special place in the repertoire. Many of the pieces are composed by the choir’s previous conductor Alo Ritsing. The most important events for TAM are annual Christmas concert with the Academic Women’s Choir of the University of Tartu and the spring concert at the end of term, also a traditional joint singing with other local male choirs at the Tartu Observatory on Estonian Independence Day on the 24th February. A new tradition has been established in celebrating the beginning of a new year with a concert in the marvellous Alatskivi Castle. Of course, the choir would always participate in Estonian song festivals and Gaudeamus – the festival for the students of the Baltic states. Every now and then, TAM also travels abroad – the most recent trip took the choir to far away Japan.
