The 22-year-old musician, who first gained wider recognition in Estonia as a contestant on the talent competition "Eesti otsib superstaari," has built a diverse creative career spanning pop, jazz, classical music and composition. In 2022, he organized the youth charity concert "The World That Remains to Us" in support of Ukrainian refugee children.

After spending the past four years in Boston studying contemporary composition, production and violin at Berklee, Kiviloo returned to Estonia late this spring with several new projects underway, including a documentary about the role of singing and music in the histories of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

The film, titled "The Power of Song," was inspired by the idea that music has helped the three Baltic nations survive difficult and transformative periods. Kiviloo has already interviewed around 50 people for the project, including prominent Estonian cultural figures such as Leelo Tungal, Ivo Linna, Tõnis Mägi and Heinz Valk, and traveled to Latvia and Lithuania.

"It's my initiative," Kiviloo said in an interview with ERR, calling it a kind of solo project. "I've filmed it myself, and I'll ultimately have to edit it myself. But editing isn't exactly new for me; I've been doing it since I was ten years old."

The project received funding from the U.S.-based Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies (AABS).

New and old

Looking back on his time in the U.S., Kiviloo said the experience changed him in many ways, from worldview and musical approach to his personal style.

"I went there four years ago, and I was definitely a very different person then," he admitted. "I think people change over the years, especially when they're young; that's a natural part of the process."

He also made several great friends over the years, four of whom are due to arrive in Estonia for a visit soon after years of hearing all about it.

Kiviloo admitted that financing the journey was the biggest challenge he faced during his four-year undergrad program, where annual tuition is well into five figures and U.S. law bars non-citizens from earning money outside of school.

One of his most important experiences, however, was reconnecting with classical music, this time as a composer.

Kiviloo has played classical violin since age 6, and while at Berklee leaned more into jazz violin. Once he began writing more for strings, however, one of his professors, Alla Elana Cohen, took him under her wing.

"She is a 77-year-old Jewish woman who was born in Kyiv, moved to Moscow when she was three and fled to America in 1989," he recalled. During his senior year, he met with her every week for private lessons.

"That was definitely something that really helped me develop and grow in every way," he added.

'I know what I want'

Kiviloo also released his debut album "Riverside" while in Boston, an eclectic collection of tracks first inspired by the Pirita River near his childhood home and largely recorded with his classmates at Berklee.

"I figured, well, this is the music I was making at that moment, so I'm going to release it," he added.

Although Kiviloo's work spans a broad range, from singing and songwriting to composition, production and even some filmmaking, he does not see his interests as scattered.

"To me, they all form one whole," he said, explaining that his main goal is still to be a performer who writes the music he performs, and several of his pursuits further support that. "I know what I want, and I'm capable of working toward that."

International ambitions remain central to his plans. Kiviloo has released English-language music under the artist name Ingmar King, a nickname given to him by American friends, while reserving his Estonian surname for projects more closely connected to his roots, including classical and choral works.

"Basically all the classical music I've written so far has in some way been inspired by Estonia," he said, although he admitted he has added different Estonian elements, such as the talharpa, or hiiu kannel, to yet-unreleased songs written and recorded in the U.S.

"But that has always been my goal — I want my international career to go far," he added.

Transatlantic dreams

One of Kiviloo's biggest personal dreams is to hear his own choral music performed onstage at the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds.

"Choral music is something I have always deeply enjoyed as an Estonian," he said. "I've attended and sung in song festivals since I was very little."

A choral piece he wrote in collaboration with poet Leelo Tungal last fall, "Trees in Bloom are Like People," has since been performed by the youth mixed choir Vox Populi, under conductor Janne Fridolin. Tungal, he added, was a longtime family friend.

Kiviloo is returning to the other side of the Atlantic again this fall, where he will be starting grad school for classical composition in Toronto.

He said the decision was influenced by his growing interest in classical music and desire to remain connected to North America. His spouse is also already studying in Toronto, where he has relatives of his own and growing connections with the local diaspora community.

As a dual Estonian-Canadian citizen, going to grad school in Canada will also make it easier for him to work on the side; he has already even applied for several jobs in town.

"Despite all this, I still very much want to stay connected to Estonia, and hopefully live here again someday too," he added.

Before leaving for Canada, Kiviloo is hosting "Echoes Across Two Shores" at Viimsi Artium in August, a concert he says is just as much a thank-you to his supporters as a benefit in support of his studies.

The program will feature classical, pop and jazz works, including custom arrangements of Raimond Valgre's music and two of Kiviloo's own world premieres: a string trio and a virtuosic solo violin piece based on the staple Estonian wedding piece "Tuljak."

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