Estonia National Opera needs leadership changes, board member says

Estonia’s national opera is in a management crisis, and resolving it will be difficult without changes in its leadership, board member Margus Rink told ERR’s Terevisioon.

Rink, who has extensive experience leading private-sector companies, said the crisis had developed gradually as trust in the organisation’s leaders eroded. He said the first signs became public in late spring and that further information had emerged since then.

The board has received several public appeals about the situation. Rink said board members had held differing views, but that concern about the crisis had grown over the past two months. He said the board had begun working to address the problem and praised Ivari Ilja for stepping down after a majority of board members came to believe the issue was serious.

Rink said staff had raised concerns about some personnel decisions and wanted a more open working environment where they could be heard and take part in discussions. The board has ordered a satisfaction survey covering all 450 employees to assess how widespread and serious the problems are. Rink said such surveys had been conducted in previous years, but not during the past six months.