Tõnu Kõrvits, who was born in Tallinn in 1969, is a leading figure in Estonian contemporary music whose work is performed regularly in Estonia and around the world. A graduate of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, he later studied in the Netherlands and Poland, and since 2001 he has been a professor of composition and instrumentation at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. His Moorland Elegies was named Best Classical Album at the Estonian Music Awards (2017), and in 2015 he was made an honorary citizen of Clarksdale, Mississippi in recognition of his own music and his work in aid of preserving the Blues.