Theatre Vanemuine

Tartu, Tartu County, EE 🇪🇪

Vanemuine is a theatre in Tartu, Estonia. It is the first Estonian-language theatre. Stemming from the Vanemuine Society (1865), the theatre's first performance was Lydia Koidula's Saaremaa Onupoeg at the society's fifth anniversary. In subsequent years, Vanemuine has expanded to include a symphony orchestra and ballet company, while its repertoire has included a range of operettas and music theatre through operas and dramas. Under Karl Menning, the theatre served a vocational purpose, with a great emphasis on educating future talent. Subsequent directors prioritized entertainment value, while Kaarel Ird—who led Vanemuine for more than forty years—oversaw a blend of genres as well as tours of the Soviet Union. In recent years, content has varied extensively.