Toomas Siitan (1958) graduated from the Estonian Academy of Music (Tallinn State Conservatoire) in 1981 as a composer. He received his PhD in musicology from the University of Lund. Since 1986 he has taught music history at the Estonian Academy of Music (since 2004 as a professor) and published articles in various European academic journals. He is the chair of the board of the Estonian Musicological Society and vice chairman of the board of the Estonian Music Council. He is the initiator and artistic director of the Haapsalu Early Music Festival, held since 1994.

Since 1990 he has been active as a conductor, leading collectives like the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, the Estonian National Male Choir, Haapsalu Festival Choir, the Estonian Radio Choir, the Chamber Choir of Estonian Choral Society, international choir Vox Europae and Tallinn Baroque Orchestra. In 1994 he founded the ensemble Studio Vocale. In 2011 he was the musical director and conductor of Johann Valentin Meder’s opera Die beständige Argenia.

As part of the Liberal Arts Program of the 2013/2014 academic year, he held a series of lectures about Arvo Pärt's oeuvre at the University of Tartu, entitled Sõna ja muusika (Words and Music), discussing topics like Pärt and modernism, The evolution, technical basics and background of Pärt's tintinnabuli-style, The role of texts and theological background of the composer's works, or The dualism of music and silence.

Further lectures of the series:

2015 October 9. 6:00 pm
Lectures of Toomas Siitan on Arvo Pärt's music I. - Arvo Pärt and the modernism of the 60s

2015 October 10. 3:00 pm
Lectures of Toomas Siitan on Arvo Pärt's music II. - The birth of the tintinnabuli style