NB The conference is postponed to 15–16 October 2021.
To celebrate the composer’s 85th birthday, the Arvo Pärt Centre – the composer’s personal archive and information and music centre in Laulasmaa – and the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre are holding an international research conference dedicated to Arvo Pärt’s work and the cultural context surrounding it.
The conference, taking place 16–17 October 2020 at the Arvo Pärt Centre is titled “Arvo Pärt – texts and contexts” and aims to reinvigorate research and analysis of the composer’s work. Scholars from Europe and the US will seek new perspectives on the textual analysis of Pärt’s compositions, look into its theological and cultural contexts and explore the particularities of his creative process.
The presenters include renowned researchers of Pärt’s work, authors of monographs or publications such as Peter J. Schmelz (Arizona State University, USA), Leopold Brauneiss (Institute of Musicology of the University of Vienna, Austria), Peter C. Bouteneff (St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, USA), Jeffers Engelhardt (Amherst College, USA), Kevin C. Karnes (Emory University, USA), Elena Tokun (The Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Russia), Andreas Waczkat (Georg-August University of Göttingen, Germany), and from Estonia Toomas Siitan (Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre), Tauri Tölpt (University of Tartu, The Institute of Theology of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church), and icon painter Deacon Nikita Andrejev (Nõmme Orthodox Church of St. John the Baptist in Tallinn).
The programme is curated by Toomas Siitan, professor at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre and member of the Artistic Advisory Board of the Arvo Pärt Centre.
Presentations will be in Estonian and English; simultaneous interpretation will be provided. The conference is open to the public. Registration is required and will be open at the beginning of summer on the centre’s website.
The event is supported by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (Centre of Excellence in Estonian Studies).
