The Grammy Award-winning Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir (EPCC) is entering the NFT and Metaverse world, with a purpose to grow its community in the global digital society. The EPCC is launching the “Joonas” NFT collection on the Patron-of-Art.com platform, which was presented at the “NFT Tallinn 2023” conference on May 9th and 10th.
According to EPCC’s managing director, Esper Linnamägi, the choir wishes to expand its mission in the digital sphere, offer digital works to a wider cross-border audience and find new support schemes for making the choir more visible in the global digital community. “Our collaboration partner is the Swiss NFT platform Patron-of-Art.com, whose team supports us in the web3 world. We are probably among the first in Estonia in the field of classical music to deal with this topic,” says Linnamägi.
The collection of 17 limited-edition NFTs is based on the poster “Joonas,” designed by Estonian leading graphic designer and artist Martin Pedanik for the EPCC’s concert and recording project celebrating the 150th birthday of Estonian composer Rudolf Tobias with the music of oratorio “Joonas” (“Jonah”) as he originally wrote it. The poster has similarities to generative algorithmic art, but is generated by a human, and features the Vesica Piscis, the intersection of two equal circles, used throughout the ages as an illustrative image of creation, divinity, and biblical legends. At the same time, the poster depicts a whale, the central symbol of Tobias’ oratorio “Joonas” (“Jonah”). The purpose of launching the collection is to support the performance and recording of Rudolf Tobias’ oratorio “Joonas,” taking place in October 2023.
EPCC participated successfully at the “NFT Tallinn 2023” conference on the 9th-10th of May at Tallinn Creative Hub (Tallinna Kaultuurikatel), where the choir and Patron-of-Art.com were present with their own booth and an auction was held to support the music project “Joonas”. The exclusive framed A2 format artwork “Joonas” signed by Martin Pedanik and Tõnu Kaljuste, along with the first EPCC’s NFT and tickets to the concert of Rudolf Tobias “Joonas” were auctioned for 1,400€. Stephan Holzer (co-founder of Patron-of-Art.com) and Esper Linnamägi (EPCC’s managing director) also made a joint presentation in frame of the conference to introduce the story and idea behind cooperation project and how the classical music, fine arts and NFT world can collaborate in terms of fundraising and supporting culture.
The purpose of launching the NFT collection “Joonas” is to support the performance and recording of Rudolf Tobias’ oratorio, taking place in October 2023.
Patron-of-Art.com is a leading NFT platform (www.patron-of-art.com), whose team offers strategic help to cultural organizations on their digital evolution journey. NFT, or non-fungible token, is a digital asset created using blockchain technology and can be used to own unique digital artworks, music, or videos. The uniqueness and authenticity of NFTs are ensured using blockchain technology.
View the collection: https://collect.patron-of-art.com/institution/estonianphilharmonicchamberchoir