Andrus Kallastu (b. 1967) is a freelance composer and conductor. He is well-known as an active concert organizer, artistic director and producer of various music projects as well as the founder and director of several festivals. Kallastu has collaborated with numerous talented musicians in Estonia and elsewhere in Europe. He is a very versatile musicians: as a performer he has expertise in performing music from Gregorian chant to ultramodern interdisciplinary compositions; at the same time he is an acclaimed interpreter of baroque and classical music.
Andrus Kallastu’s works can be divided into two stylistic periods. The majority of works written during the student years (1985–1990) follow the then-fashionable neoclassical style and are influenced by the modalities originating from earlier Estonian music. The historic year of 1990 with its important political events brought along a turning point for Kallastu’s music. He started to intensively study on Arnold Schönberg and his students’ works. Kallastu’s studies in Helsinki proved highly inspirational as well. First composition in the new period were completed in late 1990s. The main features of these works are serial texture, fields technique, tensions between musical sound and noise. Many of Kallastu’s works display his interest in the synthesis of music and arts and performance art.