From her emergence in the 1950s onwards, Ester Magi, born in Tallinn in 1922, has quietly built up a body of works that can be seen as among the most directly representative of Estonian national music. Relying on traditions, Ester Magi's idiom has gone through a modernisation process during half a century, yet retaining intrinsic modesty. The persistent features of her work are fine sense of form, transparent texture and subtle or objective mode of expression. Mostly her works are based on brief thematic cores borrowed from or characteristic to Estonian folk melodies. Variational forms or variational treatment of musical material is predominant in her work. Winning her first state prize in 1980 she has firmly established her position among the leading lights of contemporary Estonian music.