News

The team of the Arvo Pärt Center commemorates musicologist and journalist Priit Kuuske (18 August 1938 - 28 May 2022). The long-standing passion of the dedicated and thorough music journalist was to cover the events of Estonian music and its spread in the world.

The Estonia Society named composer Arvo Pärt an honorary member of the society for his special merits in achieving the society’s goals. The honorary member certificate was handed over to him on 20 May in Laulasmaa, when a delegation of the society visited the Arvo Pärt Centre.

This year, the Arvo Pärt Centre is issuing two scholarships for creative work at the Arvo Pärt Centre. The residency scholarships are awarded to Estonian playwright, stage director and theatre figure Ivar Põllu and Iranian composer and musician Golfam Khayam.

7 April marks the 45th anniversary of the premiere of "Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten", one of the most beloved and most performed works in Pärt’s oeuvre. The story written by Karin Rõngelep based on a discussion with the composer Arvo Pärt at the Arvo Pärt Centre.

Dear friends in Ukraine, dear colleagues, dear all fighting for your home at the price of your life. We bow before your bravery, bravery in the face of nearly unbearable suffering. We are with you as much as we are able to. All that is left to us is a lump in our throats and tears and prayers. Words have begun to lose their meaning. Forgive us!

In March, the famous contemporary music centre in Amsterdam, Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ will dedicate a one-week programme to Arvo Pärt’s music. Taking place from 22 to 27 March, Pärt Festival 2022 was originally scheduled for the spring of 2020 to celebrate the composer’s 85th birthday. The festival programme features renowned performers of Pärt’s music from the Netherlands, Estonia and elsewhere.

On February 27 at 17:00 in St. John’s Church in Tallinn, the “Author’s Hour” dedicated to Arvo Pärt’s music will begin. At this concert, for the first time in Estonia, Pärt’s choral work O Holy Father Nicholas, dedicated to the opening of the St. Nicholas Church, erected on the site of the destroyed twin towers in New York, will be performed. The concert will be conducted by Tõnu Kaljuste.

The year 2022 is celebrated as the Year of Libraries in Estonia, and therefore it is appropriate to take a look at the library at our centre. Although the Arvo Pärt Centre library is not large, it plays an important role in introducing Arvo Pärt’s heritage and thinking.

The Arvo Pärt Centre thanks and congratulates long-term supporters of the centre Reet and Väino Kaldoja, who received the title Friend of Culture of the Year at the award ceremony at the Kai Art Center today. Reet and Väino Kaldoja have supported the Arvo Pärt Centre since 2014 both through their company, Silberauto, and as private individuals.

For the second year, the Arvo Pärt Centre will award residency scholarships to offer artists the opportunity to dedicate themselves to their work at the Arvo Pärt Centre. This year, one scholarship is intended for a representative of the world of music and the other for a creative person working in another art form. The only application round this year will open on 17 January and the deadline for applications is 31 March.

The Hamburg edition of Arvo Pärt’s orchestral piece "Swansong" will be premiered on 5 and 6 December at the Elbphilharmonie Concert Hall in Hamburg. It will be performed by the Hamburg State Philharmonic Orchestra and Chief Conductor Kent Nagano, who commissioned this edition of the piece.

Arvo Pärt’s Symphony No. 2 was completed in 1966, and although the exact date of completion cannot be ascertained from the archival documents, it was most likely written between March and September.