Arvo Pärt’s work will be in dialogue with many composers at the Pärt Days concerts taking place from September 2 to 11, 2023. Pärt — Saint-Saëns; Pärt — Tormis; Pärt — Kõrvits; Pärt — Tüür; Pärt — Lang. However, Arvo Pärt’s birthday concert on September 11 will feature only his own work. You can take part in the Arvo Pärt Days by visiting churches and performance venues all over Estonia: Pärnu, Narva, Viljandi, Paide, Rapla, Tartu, Viimsi, Tallinn and Laulasmaa.
On September 9, the ensemble Vox Clamantis will perform some newly written vocal compositions by David Lang, one of America’s best known and most performed composers, alongside Arvo Pärt’s choral music at the Arvo Pärt Centre. The collection Song of Songs compiled in 2022 combines Arvo Pärt’s songs, the lyrics of which were inspired by the biblical “Song of Songs” — longing, intimate images of love, beauty and peace. The song we were was written for the ensemble Vox Clamantis, who will perform it for the first time in Estonia during the Pärt Days. From Arvo Pärt’s oeuvre, Zwei Beter (Two Prayers), O Holy Father Nicolas, And I heard a voice … and Vater unser (Our Father) will be performed.
Arvo Pärt’s birthday on September 11 will mark the birth of a new album. Tõnu Kaljuste, together with his ensembles Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, have recorded previously unrecorded works or newer versions of works for the new Arvo Pärt album by the German label ECM. The recording took place last September in the Methodist Church in Tallinn. The album Tractus is the seventeenth in a series of Pärt’s albums released by ECM. The album premiere concert will take place on September 11 in St. John’s Church in Tallinn.