Olav Roots

Olav Roots (26 February 1910 – 30 January 1974) was an Estonian conductor, pianist and composer.

He studied at the Music School of Tartu from 1923 to 1928, studying piano with Artur Lemba and composition under Heino Eller with musicians such as Eduard Tubin, Eduard Oja, Alfred Karindi and Karl Leichter.

In 1937, a scholarship enabled him to study with Felix Weingartner in Vienna and attend summer courses with Nikolai Malko in Salzburg.

He taught there at the Estonian School and directed the Stockholm Joint Youth Choir.

[1] The Eduard Tubin Museum of Alatskivi Castle today contains exhibits related to Roots and his fellow students of the Tartu music school.

Conductor Olav Roots, composer Eduard Tubin and double-bassist Ludvig Juht in Stockholm Concert Hall in 1947