Although 2020 will mostly be remembered as a period of hiatus for music festivals, a period of relative stability during the summer in Estonia enabled the festival Glasperlenspiel to hold most of its 25th anniversary programme. The strict restrictions on travel and gatherings (limited to 2 people in March) were eased in May when Covid cases in Estonia went under 10 per 100,000. Travel from Finland opened without restrictions on June 15, and the festival organisers knew in May that public events would again be allowed as of July 1. They were cutting it rather close, as until 30 June public events were completely prohibited.