Background
Tõnu sang in his father"s choirs as a child, and graduated from the Tallinn Music High School (Tallinna Muusikakeskkool) in 1971.
Tõnu sang in his father"s choirs as a child, and graduated from the Tallinn Music High School (Tallinna Muusikakeskkool) in 1971.
He completed a graduate degree at the Tallinn Conservatory in 1976, studying with Jüri Variste and Roman Matsov, and continued as a postgraduate at the Leningrad Conservatory until 1978.
Born in Tallinn, Kaljuste is the child of Heino Kaljuste (1925–1989), an Estonian choral conductor, and Lia Kaljuste, a radio journalist. Kaljuste took his father"s role as leader of the Ellerhein Chamber choir in 1974, an ensemble that performed choral works ranging from Renaissance music to contemporary avant-garde music With financial support from the Estonian government, Kaljuste turned the Ellerhein Chamber Choir into a full-time ensemble, and renamed it the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir in 1981.
Kaljuste also conducted with the Estonian National Opera between 1978 and 1995.
In 1993, he formed the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra. He was also principal conductor of the Swedish Radio Choir between 1994 and 2000, as well as of the Netherlands Chamber Choir (1998–2000).
Aside from Estonian composers, Kaljuste has also recorded works of Beethoven, Penderecki, Alfred Schnittke, Rachmaninov, Mozart, Sergei Taneyev, Vivaldi, and others In 2014, Kaljuste was listed by the Estonian World as the second most outstanding Estonian in that year, right behind Arvo Päroute