Tõnu Kaljuste

Born on August 28, 1953, in Tallinn, then within Soviet Estonia, conductor Tõnu Kaljuste established both the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra while becoming a leading advocate for contemporary Estonian composition. His activities have extended well beyond national borders, encompassing an extensive range of Russian and Western European repertoire alongside works from his homeland.

His father, Heino Kaljuste, directed the Ellerhein Chamber Choir, where the younger Kaljuste first performed as a chorister. His mother worked as a broadcast journalist. After completing studies at Tallinn Music High School in 1971, he entered the Tallinn Conservatory for conducting lessons with Jüri Variste and Roman Matsov. Even before receiving his diploma in 1976, he assumed leadership of the Ellerhein ensemble from his father, renamed it the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, and secured state funding that enabled its conversion into a salaried professional body. Additional training followed in Leningrad; upon returning he instructed at the Tallinn Conservatory between 1978 and 1980 while simultaneously beginning a seventeen-year tenure at the Estonian National Opera.

In 1980 he joined other signatories of a protest letter opposing Soviet restrictions on Estonian-language use and the harsh measures taken against demonstrators supporting an Estonian punk rock band. That same year he received first prize at the Béla Bartók Choral Competition for conductors. Following Estonia’s independence in 1991, Kaljuste gained wider international recognition. His initial ECM release, Veljo Tormis: Forgotten Peoples, appeared in 1992 with the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir. The Tallinn Chamber Orchestra was founded the next year.

Between 1994 and 2000 he led the Swedish Radio Choir, producing a 1995 recording of Rachmaninov’s Vespers. From 1998 to 2000 he also directed the Netherlands Chamber Choir, for which he taped an album of Robert Heppener works on the Donemus label in 1999. Since that period he has maintained his connection with the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir while pursuing freelance engagements with former and new ensembles alike. The 2012 ECM release of Arvo Pärt’s Adam’s Lament, performed by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Latvian Radio Choir, and Riga Sinfonietta, earned a Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance. His orchestral work received further notice with the 2018 recording of Arvo Pärt’s four symphonies, issued with the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic Orchestra and honored by an International Classical Music Award. In 2023 he returned to ECM with the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra for Tormis’ Reminiscentiae.