At the Florence International Choir and Orchestra Festival (FICF) in Italy, the Estonian Radio Girls' Choir and the Tartu Youth Choir tied for first place in their youth choir category, earning gold medals.

The Estonian Radio Girls' Choir also earned the jury's special prize for overall Best Choreography.

Held in late July, the Florence International Choir and Orchestra Festival is one of Italy's most prominent choral events. This year, judges evaluated competing choirs, orchestras and ensembles from seven countries for vocal performance, repertoire and artistic presentation.

The Estonian Radio Girls' Choir is led by conductors Kadri Hunt and Kaie Tanner, while Tartu Youth Choir is directed by Markus Leppoja.

Meanwhile, the Estonian Youth Wind Orchestra (ENPO) placed third in the inaugural youth division competition at the World Music Contest (WMC) in Kerkrade, the Netherlands, nicknamed the "Olympic Games of Wind Music."

Competing against 15 under-21 ensembles from eight countries, ENPO earned a combined score of 95.00 points, finishing one point or less behind two Colombian youth orchestras that took first and second place.

Among other works, the Estonian ensemble performed an arrangement of the Metsatöll song "Mother's Voice is Calling" ("Ema hääl kutsub").

Unlike most of its competitors, ENPO is a project orchestra that rehearses only a handful of times each year, rather than meeting weekly as a permanent ensemble. The orchestra previously competed at WMC Kerkrade in 2001 and 2005.

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