Kerri Kotta

Kerri Kotta is a Professor of Music Theory and Head of Musicology at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. She holds a PhD in Musicology (2004) and an MA in Composition (1997) from the same institution. Her research focuses on music theory, tonal analysis, Estonian music history, and contemporary composition, with special expertise in the works of Eduard Tubin and Dmitri Shostakovich. She coordinates the International Eduard Tubin Society and edits the composer's complete works.

Her research interests span music theory, compositional techniques, Estonian cultural heritage, and interdisciplinary performance studies. Recent publications explore modernism in Estonian art music, Beethoven's structural rhetoric, and socio-psychological dimensions of contemporary opera.

Kotta received the Reet Neimar Criticism Award (2023) for her contributions to music scholarship. She leads the project How to share the ardor? Conveying complex musical structures through animated scores (2024-2025), funded by the Estonian Ministry of Culture.

Administratively, she chairs the Estonian Musicological Society (2013–present) and the International Eduard Tubin Society (2015–present), while serving on the board of the Estonian Composers Union (2022–present).