Silvia Ilves

Silvia Ilves received her first music lessons from her mother at the age of two, studying piano and singing. At six, she began studying cello at the Tallinn Music High School under Mart Laas. Since 2010, she has continued her studies at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre with Professors Marko Ylönen and Henry-David Varema. She currently studies with Professor Peeter Paemurru at EMTA.

Silvia Ilves is a laureate of numerous competitions, including the International Young Musician Competition in Tallinn (1st prize, 2002), the International Cello Competition in Liezen (2nd prize, 2006), the ESTA Estonian National Competition for Young Violinists and Cellists in Tallinn (1st prize, 2007), the cello competition held as part of the Suure-Jaani Music Festival (1st prize, 2009), the Estonian Association of String Teachers’ National Competition-Festival for Young String Players (1st prize, 2010), the Eduard Tubin String Players’ Competition (2nd prize, 2015), and the television competition Klassikatähed (EMTA Special Prize and 2nd place, 2016). At the international A. Kapp Cello Competition in 2019, Silvia won 2nd prize along with several special prizes. In 2020, she received a special prize for the best performance of Heino Eller’s Prelude at the Estonian String Players’ Competition.

She has performed as a soloist with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra (under Neeme Järvi and Olari Elts), Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, EMTA Symphony Orchestra, Tallinn Music High School Symphony Orchestra, Pärnu City Orchestra, Orchestra Sul Ponticello, Tallinn University Symphony Orchestra and Eesti Sinfonietta, working with conductors including Mihhail Gerts, Paul Mägi, Kaspar Mänd, Martin Sildos, Jüri Alperten, Risto Joost and Viljar Weimann.

Silvia has participated in masterclasses with Jens Peter Maintz, Nicholas Jones, Olsi Leka, Aleksei Vassiljev, Wolfgang Boettcher, Silvia Chiesa and Urmas Tammik.

Since childhood, Silvia has performed in concerts with her five sisters, and since 2016 they have performed under the name The Ilves Sisters. That same year, Silvia and her pianist sister Liidia released their joint album The Ilves Sisters’ Classical Favourites. She is also an active chamber musician and participates in projects with Eesti Sinfonietta and the Nordic Symphony Orchestra. From 2018 to 2021, she worked as a cellist with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra.

Also a popular electric cellist in the entertainment world, Silvia has collaborated with numerous renowned artists, including conductor Kristjan Järvi, whose ensemble Absolute Ensemble she has been a member of since 2017. She has also worked successfully with pianists Age Juurikas, Peep Lassmann and Sten Heinoja, cellist Marcel Johannes Kits, composer Rein Rannap, guitarist Paul Neitsov, pianist Samuel Bezerra-Gomez and many others.

Since 2023, Silvia has been working closely with the Narva City Orchestra under conductor Anatoli Štšura, with whom she has performed Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 1 in C major twice to date.