Aavik studied music composition at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. He later served as a conductor in Tartu, Governorate of Livonia (1911–1925), a musical conservatory professor and director in Tallinn (1928–1944), and an Estonian song festival conductor in Sweden (1948–1961) (after arriving there in 1944). He wrote nearly 200 Opus numbers, among them two symphonies; a Cello concerto (1949); a Double bass Concerto (1950); a Piano trio (1957); a Requiem (1959); and various choral works, songs and chamber music. In Stockholm at age 81 (1965–1969), he published a history of Estonian music in four volumes.
