Toronto, as an incredibly multicultural city, hosts so many cool, inspiring music festivals throughout the year, making it one of the top destinations for live music lovers. Whether you’re into world music, indie artists, or global music festivals, the city has something for everyone. And what better way is there to express your own cultural identity and pride, or learn about cultural diversity and other cultures, than through live music events in Toronto? So let the musical vibes start to wash over you and get pumped for Toronto’s lively, year-round festival season! Not sure which music festivals and concerts in Toronto to visit? We’re highlighting a few of the most popular and entertaining cultural music festivals, carrying on into the fall and winter, to get you started.

Singer, songwriter, and soundscape builder Mart Avi is bound to turn your head when you first hear his music. Even through the sounds alone, you can tell he has a very physical approach to music, including an almost percussive style of singing. And there are an abundance of stories to dig into lyrically.

Before he hits the stage at 2025’s Estonian Music Week festival, hear him speak on the latest episode of EstoCast.

Experience a unique northern culture, small in size, big in creativity with Estonian Music Week 2025 festival.

Be moved by the sounds and stories of Estonia. From folktronica to avant-pop and contemporary classical.

May 22-25, Toronto.

Renowned pianist Kristjan Randalu live in Hamilton and Toronto, Canada.

Once a year, during one week of early spring week, hundreds of artists, venue and festival bookers, artist managers, music supervisors, media, and thousands of music fans flock to Tallinn with two goals: to discover and to be discovered. Whether you seek new talent, inspiration, knowledge, performance opportunities, or the chance to break into new markets, you will find it here. Over the past 16 years, Tallinn Music Week (TMW) has become one of Europe’s music industry hotspots.

If you're looking for confirmation on your information about your transportation from Spadina Station, you're in the wrong place... However, if you're in the area and want the scoop on some stellar parties, then keep reading!

We've had to wait patiently to celebrate the 50th anniversary—now titled TC 50+2—of Tartu College, the student residence and Estonian community hot spot at Bloor and Spadina. But now, we'll have two nights to use our pent-up energy.

What's fuelling all of this partying? The raw, unrestrained funk of Estonia's Lexsoul Dancemachine and the Shuffle Demons from Toronto.

In describing what he wants the audience to feel when leaving a Collegium Musicale concert, conductor Endrik Üksvärav identifies the understanding “that the choir sounds good.” Sometimes a judgement about music can be boiled down to an immediate, intuitive impression—in other words, it's either good or it isn't. With Collegium Musicale, you may wish to ask yourself specifically what you want to gain as a listener.

Üksvärav founded Collegium Musicale in 2010, with a repertoire that extends all the way from the Renaissance to the present day, with special emphasis on contemporary classical composers from Estonia:

BREMEN, GERMANY—Since it was first created in 2018 by Estonian Museum Canada (VEMU), Estonian Music Week has united several big-name jazz artists and venues between Estonia and Canada. More recently, this took shape in Mike Murley sharing the stage with Kristjan Randalu. Nearly three years ago, Kadri Voorand performed together with Juno award-winning pianist and singer Laila Biali.

Even more fruitful collaborations between Estonians and Canadians are on the horizon, though. For example, EMW is striving to bring Laila Biali and Toronto legends the Shuffle Demons to Jazzkaar festival in 2023. Now, there's a chance to move further and show the value of the festival to the rest of the world at the “Family Reunion of Jazz.”

Kristjan Randalu live in Toronto. Special guest Mike Murley. Heliconian Hall on April 12, 2022.

Spring is here, and with that return of vitality, Canada is getting back two year's worth of events that were cancelled as a result of the pandemic. In late March 2020, Grammy-nominated Estonian pianist Kristjan Randalu was scheduled to play two nights at Toronto's Jazz Bistro with saxophonist Mike Murley and then singer Geneviève Marentette; followed by a show at Hamilton's Cotton Factory, alongside Terry Clarke, Reg Schwager, and Neil Swainson.

Now, at long last, Randalu will be back in North America for a string of dates.

Rita Ray (born Kristi Raias) is Estonia's answer to that. While, for example, the music video for her song “Love Ain't the Same” has a film camera aesthetic, a retro American car, and a twangy country style guitar riff, her rich voice and the band's swaying rhythms address listener's lives today without limitations.

In anticipation of her Estonian Music Week concert on October 22nd, she's shared a little bit about herself and the four-piece band, so we can get to know them.

Most people wouldn't associate Estonia with soul music. What is it that you love about this genre?

On Friday the 22nd —the first night of the festival—Estyr will be sharing the stage of Toronto’s Paradise Theatre ‘ with Kaili Kinnon, in addition to a live-streamed performance from Rita Ray in Tallinn, Estonia. You may know Estyr from the alt-pop band Tiger Balme, featuring a quintet of vibraphone, harp, drums, bass, and guitar. Alternatively, you may be familiar with her performances as a solo artist, for which she has headlined with Kaili Kinnon in the past. Across these projects and Toronto's music scene, she has presented poignant musical vignettes through her singing and acoustic guitar playing.

Anne Erm, the mother of all things jazz in Estonia started, and has run, the number one jazz festival in the country 21 years and is connected with the whose-who of the jazz world.

The curation of a jazz festival's lineup is an interesting thing, isn't it? Jazz at Lincoln Center—a key cultural institution in New York City—describes jazz as “a metaphor for Democracy. Because jazz is improvisational, it celebrates personal freedom and encourages individual expression.”

While not every artist was swinging on the ride cymbal, had saxophone or trumpet solos, or walked to the scale of an upright bass player, the artists who played spoke to the freedom and individual expression of the genre. Perhaps jazz has broadened itself through its own fundamental, democratic components.

Markin was the winner of two Finnish Emma Awards in 2019 and a Teosto Prize in 2020. To date, he's released five albums, including three as a member of the duo The Megaphone State and two solo albums. Having just released his second solo album, Noir, an auditory spectacle with unexpected turns in each song, it's clear why he's become a respected name in Finnish music.

Just as we reported on Tallinn Music Week last year, Elis Jaansoo and Sebastian Buccioni have been there as correspondents at Jazzkaar Festival. The festival, running from Monday August 23rd to Sunday August 29th, has boosted the global touring cachet of Tallinn; and as the festival puts it, “combines the avant-garde with the mainstream for a festival of diversity.”

Fitting for a nation of singers, this year Jazzkaar invited Lucy Woodward, who performed on Wednesday August 25th at Vaba Lava. Woodward has conquered virtually every musical situation out there for singers, but is playing in a more intimate configuration for her tour stop in Estonia, which she has wanted to visit for 10 years.

If you’re interested in Estonian folk music, how it relates and figures in today’s world and how it ties to the country’s culture as a whole, there’s three great festivals to explore. Possibly the most well known is the Viljandi Folk Music Festival. The festival has taken place every year in what is deemed to be one of the most beautiful small towns in Estonia, Viljandi, since 1993. The festival’s main goal is to increase awareness of the roots of the country’s culture as a whole and keeping these roots alive through music and the arts. Not only does Viljandi Folk offer 4 days of non stop folk music from the world’s top musicians in the genre but it also presents the opportunity to take a course in “regilaul,” the unique call and repeat musical storytelling our culture has thrived on for centuries, courses in traditional folk instruments, and an accompanying arts and crafts exhibition as well as hands-on demonstrations.