“Arvo Pärt – Texts and Contexts”
Dates: 15–16 October 2021
Venue: Arvo Pärt Centre
Organised by Arvo Pärt Centre, Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre
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 postponed conference “Arvo Pärt – texts and contexts”, taking place 15–16 October 2021 at the Arvo Pärt Centre and on web channel, aims to reinvigorate research and analysis of the composer’s work. Scholars from Europe, Australia and the US will seek new perspectives on the textual analysis of Pärt’s compositions, look into its theological and cultural contexts and explore aspects 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, US), Peter C. Bouteneff (St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, US), Jeffers Engelhardt (Amherst College, US), Kevin C. Karnes (Emory University, USA), Leopold Brauneiss (Institute of Musicology of the University of Vienna, Austria), Andreas Waczkat (Georg-August University of Göttingen, Germany), Chris May (independent researcher, Sydney, Australia) and, from Estonia, Toomas Siitan and Mart Humal (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.
The conference is free and open to the public. The audience is welcome to participate on site or follow the live stream at the Arvo Pärt Centre’s channel, stream.arvopart.ee. Presentations will be in English; simultaneous interpretation into Estonian is provided on site. Registration is required 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).
