Miina Härma

Miina Hermann was born in Kõrveküla on February 9, 1864. Entering the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in 1883, she graduated as an organist and composer, becoming the first Estonian woman with a higher academic degree in music.

Toured as an organ virtuoso across Europe, she founded the Miina Härma Mixed Choir in Tartu in 1894. Her choral masterpiece Tuljak—a sparkling, joy-filled folk wedding song—has closed nearly every Estonian National Song Festival for over a century. In 1939, she was named the first honorary professor of the Tallinn Conservatory.