News

The Annual Congress of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres (IAML) held its Annual Congress on 18–22 June in the new building of the National Library of Latvia in Riga, at which Anneli Kivisiv and Kai Kutman represented the Arvo Pärt Centre. Their presentation “Archiving a living composer: building Arvo Pärt’s personal archive” gave an overview of the archive of the Arvo Pärt Centre and its activities in cooperation with Arvo Pärt.

London International A Cappella Choral Competition will be held from 25 June until 1 July, and this year, the competition features the life and work of Arvo Pärt. The competition is run by Peter Phillips and the Tallis Scholars, in collaboration with St John’s Smith Square.

Today the cornerstone for Arvo Pärt Centre’s new building was laid at Laulasmaa, Estonia. The official ceremony took place at the site of  the future Chamber Hall and the cornerstone was placed within the floor area beneath the stage. The cornerstone was laid in its place by the composer Arvo Pärt.

The Arvo Pärt Centre and composer Arvo Pärt would like to extend heartfelt wishes to the beloved conductor, Maestro Neeme Järvi, who today, 7 June, celebrates his 80th birthday. Arvo Pärt: “Composers receive a great gift, whenever they get to work with great musicians. I have been so lucky with Neeme! I also greatly appreciate his unprecedented contribution to Estonian music in the West – in the first case presenting the work of Tubin, which, thanks to Neeme’s extraordinary dedication and talent, has been introduced to a great many people outside our homeland. I would like to wish my dear friend strength and creative energy for many years to come!”

Today, the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Tallinn held a ceremony to award Arvo Pärt with the Per Artem ad Deum medal bestowed by the Pontifical Council for Culture in recognition of achievements that contribute to the promotion of dialogue between the diversity of cultures in the contemporary world and thus promote man as an individuaal.

On 26 September last year Arvo Pärt's wife Nora Pärt was a guest in the season opening of cultural TV discussion programm Plekktrumm (ETV2, ERR). The topics discussed included Arvo Pärt’s work and message and also achieving a creative climate in general. The compare was Joonas Hellerma. The discussion program now has English subtitles for anyone who does not understand Estonian.

“Writing music is like playing with toys. You take out some things, put them the other way around, look at them from another angle. Indeed, how many notes do we have: eight notes for a normal composer. Or even seven.” – Arvo Pärt. During Museum Night, an Estonia-wide event, the Arvo Pärt Centre will again be opening its doors to visitors. As 2017 is the Year of Children’s and Youth Culture, the theme this year is Games in the Night.

A video from the Arvo Pärt Centre presenting how we came to be and why the Centre is located in Laulasmaa.

“Arvo Pärt: Sounding the Sacred” is an international conference within the Arvo Pärt Project at St. Vladimir's Seminary, in collaboration with the Orthodox Christian Studies Center of Fordham University. The conference is being held on 1–4 May 2017 in New York City and focuses on the sonic and spiritual effect of Arvo Pärt’s music. The conference will host speakers from different fields of research with presentations based on sound studies, a relatively new branch of academic inquiry.

The Arvo Pärt Centre signes an agreement with Ehitustrust AS, a company that submitted the most reasonable tender to the public procurement for the construction of the new building. The construction of the building designed by the renowned Spanish architects will cost 6.69 million EUR, and will take an estimated 14 months. The completion of the new building will make it possible to open the Centre to anyone interested, and to introduce Arvo Pärt's creative heritage through a comprehensive programme to Estonian audiences as well as foreign visitors. The Arvo Pärt Centre will open its doors in autumn 2018.

The 7 March will be the 130th birthday of the grand old man of Estonian music, composer and composition teacher, Heino Eller. Arvo Pärt studied at the Tallinn State Conservatory in Heino Eller's composition class from 1957 to 1963. Arvo Pärt recalls his teacher: „I remember my composition teacher Heino Eller, and the years I spent studying with him, with much gratitude."

On 27 February, one of the most remarkable and unique musicians of our time, Gidon Kremer, will be celebrating his 70th birthday. Gidon Kremer's collaboration with Arvo Pärt began many decades ago. The historic première of Tabula rasa took place in 1977, and the ECM recording of this performance by Gidon Kremer, Tatjana Grindenko, Alfred Schnittke and the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra has touched and influenced many listeners, while also being a leading example of how Pärt's music can be interpreted.