Taja Astar is a classical pianist, composer and conductor, who came to music-making through her love for opera, and eventually obtained a Master's degree in Composition. She has developed her unique musical language in modern tonal paradigm, that is both elaborate yet reasonably accessible for listeners of different backgrounds. She sees the main purpose of music in making people feel and think. In her works, she often turns to complex and painful social and personal issues, and likes to interlace her music with intertextual references that strive to build bridges between different arts, genres and epochs. Her wife Anna is her constant partner-in-art, who often provides her with textual material to work with, and sometimes acts as co-composer. Together, they have written, among other things, a chamber opera on consumerism, and are currently working on an oratorio “Walls and Bridges” that examines various visible and invisible barriers and bridges between people and in their minds.