The Finnish conductor and composer selected four emerging young composers, noting they stood out for their distinctive musical voices.

Kruusmaa said the recognition encouraged her as she battled self-doubt while working on a major new piece.

"When someone says, 'I notice you, you have your own voice and that's why you are here at Tanglewood today,' that can really put things back into perspective," she said.

The festival featured the 2022 version of "Mesmeris" for marimba and piano, the third version of a piece Kruusmaa originally wrote in 2014 for clarinet and piano before adapting it for violin and piano.

She said Tanglewood's outdoor setting in Western Massachusetts' Berkshire Hills was a natural fit for the work.

"The atmosphere and the space itself here are so fantastic," Kruusmaa said. "All these concert venues and halls have walls that open up and become almost one with nature."

She praised the festival's musicians for their professionalism. "The first rehearsal already sounded like an album recording," she added.

Estonian greetings

At the festival, Kruusmaa met Salonen in person. He greeted her in Estonian and with a hug before they discussed Estonian conductors and the similarities and differences between Estonian and Finnish.

The composer also said she was impressed by the audience's response to contemporary music.

"The music completely captured the audience," she recalled, saying it was wonderful to see how they responded to the performances.

After the concert, Kruusmaa received another surprise when members of the local Boston-area Estonian community approached her with flowers.

"It was very, very moving," she recalled. "I was the only composer that day who received flowers."

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