News

Construction works on the new building at the Arvo Pärt Centre have reached an important milestone: most of the building is now covered with a roof, and so reaches the maximum height of 10.55 metres. In celebration of this event, the Arvo Pärt Centre held a topping-out party to thank and treat the builders and the main contractor of the construction works, AS Ehitustrust.

From 20 October until 18 November, the Music Department gallery in the Tartu Public Library will host an exhibition of photographs by Tõnu Tormis, “On Pärt”. Displaying this exhibition from 2005 is possible thanks to collaboration between Tartu Public Library, Tõnu Tormis and the Arvo Pärt Centre Another display on the composer, “Enchanted By the Work of Arvo Pärt”, will be open outside the Music Department on the 4th floor.

The Arvo Pärt Centre and the composer Arvo Pärt cordially congratulate the composer Jaan Rääts on his 85th birthday.

The Joseph Ratzinger Foundation, also known as the Pope Benedict XVI Foundation in the Vatican, has announced that in addition to outstanding theologians the winners of this year’s Ratzinger Prize also include the composer Arvo Pärt.

On 22 September the National Library of Estonia and the Arvo Pärt Centre signed a cooperation agreement, under which the library of the Arvo Pärt Centre will soon be accessible to the public through the ESTER digital catalogue.

In honour of Arvo Pärt’s 82nd birthday, the musicology conference, “Arvo Pärt: Icon of Modernity” was held on 11 September in London. The short yet dense conference was organised by the Royal Academy of Music in cooperation with the Estonian Embassy in London and convened by Professor Robert Sholl, musicologist and researcher of Pärt’s work.

The summer season of the Nargenfestival will culminate as always with the Arvo Pärt Days. During 2 – 11 September, these concerts will extend to completely new venues all over Estonia.

From 23 to 25 August, Sõprus Cinema will screen three films in which Arvo Pärt’s music plays an important part. This year’s Arvo Pärt Centre Film Nights will focus on works by the Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev, who will also be attending the screenings in Tallinn.

The Arvo Pärt Centre interviews Russian musicologist, teacher and singer Svetlana Savenko, who has studied the aesthetics and style of Arvo Pärt's works, where she talks about her experience of Arvo Pärt's work.

The Music in Movement (MiM) project highlights the richness of European contemporary music by tracing the stories of four eminent composers: Louis Andriessen, Pierre Boulez, Arvo Pärt and Kazimierz Serocki. Through accessible themes, quizzes and, most importantly, a wealth of music, MiM reaches out to a broad audience in a new and engaging way. At the same time users with a background in music will be able to discover interesting storylines as well as delightful footage.

The 9th European Music Analysis Conference (EuroMAC 9) took place in Strasbourg from 28 June to 1 July 2017, with hundreds of musicologists from all over the world. This year’s conference focused on two larger topics: the future of musicology, and the relationship between different expressions of music analysis and music (composition, interpretation, improvisation, audience reception).

On 19 June the cornerstone for Arvo Pärt Centre’s new building was laid at Laulasmaa, Estonia. Watch the video of the ceremony.