At the annual Encaenia ceremony held today, Arvo Pärt received an honorary degree in Music from Oxford University.
At a ceremony held at the Sheldonian Theatre the University of Oxford conferred honorary degrees on nine distinguished figures from the fields of theology, law, economics, architecture, film, science, engineering and music. The honorary doctorates of Letters were awarded to the economist Paul Krugman, the film director Pedro Almodóvar and the architect Kazuyo Sejima. The honorary doctorate in Divinity was awarded to the philosopher and theologian Tomáš Halík; the honorary doctorate in Civil Law was awarded to a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, Lord Jonathan Mance, and honorary doctorates in Science were awarded to the neurobiologist Cornelia Bargmann, the physicist Mildred Dresselhaus and Sir Jonathan Ive, the Chief Design Officer of Apple Inc.
Among Arvo Pärt’s numerous recognitions and awards, there are several honorary doctorates from Estonian universities (the Estonian Academy of Music, 1989; and the University of Tartu, 1998), as well as renowned universities abroad (University of Sydney, 1998; and University of Durham, 2002).
Arvo Pärt has twice received an honorary doctorate in Theology (University of Freiburg, 2007; University of Lugano, 2012).
