News

Today marks the opening of a four-day festival at the renowned Flagey concert hall in Brussels dedicated to the 90th birthday of composer Arvo Pärt. Running from 8 to 11 October, the Arvo Pärt Festival features performances by distinguished musicians from Estonia and across Europe, alongside film screenings, lectures and an exhibition introducing Pärt’s work. The extensive accompanying programme has been organised in collaboration with the Estonian Embassy in Brussels and the Arvo Pärt Centre.

To mark the composer’s 90th birthday, the Arvo Pärt Centre has published an extraordinary book-album. Titled Gratefully. Heartfelt. With Love. Musical Greetings from Arvo Pärt, it reveals a previously unknown and humorous side of Arvo Pärt’s creative work.

Arvo and Nora Pärt, along with the team of the Arvo Pärt Centre, commemorate the legendary director and artist Robert Wilson (1941–2025).

On October 17–18, 2025, the Arvo Pärt Centre in Laulasmaa will host the international research conference Arvo Pärt: Ideascapes. With its intentionally broad thematic scope, we invite scholars from various disciplines to explore and share ideas related to the musical and intellectual legacy of the Estonian composer, who celebrates his 90th birthday this year.

This graphic novel Between Two Sounds, which is about Arvo Pärt, was published by the Arvo Pärt Centre and written by the artist and illustrator Joonas Sildre. It has now reached readers in the Czech language.

From 8 May, the exhibition Spiegel im Spiegel: Encounters between Estonian and German Art from Lucas Cranach to Arvo Pärt and Gerhard Richter" will be on display. It is the largest exhibition of Estonian art ever to be held in Germany. It highlights twelve encounters or dialogues throughout the centuries of shared history between Estonia and Germany. The opening dialogue is a meeting between the works of the composer Arvo Pärt and the Dresden-based artist Gerhard Richter. The exhibition includes manuscripts of Arvo Pärt's works and music diaries selected by the Arvo Pärt Centre, which are being exhibited outside Estonia for the first time.

On 4 May, Her Royal Highness Princess Caroline of Hanover presented composer Arvo Pärt with the Order of Cultural Merit of the Principality of Monaco at the Arvo Pärt Centre. Prince Albert II of Monaco appointed Arvo Pärt Commander of the Order of Cultural Merit of Monaco last November.

Concerto Copenhagen and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir present …Lente, an unconventional interpretation of Arvo Pärt’s music. 

On Sunday, 4 May, the ensemble Vox Clamantis will give the world premiere of Arvo Pärt’s Prayer to the Holy Trinity. The performance will take place at St Nicholas’ Church (Niguliste) in Tallinn. Composed in 1976, the piece was originally conceived as a personal musical greeting. Thanks to the archival work of the Arvo Pärt Centre, it is now being presented to the public for the first time.

To celebrate Arvo Pärt in the year of the composer’s 90th birthday, the 2023 album Tractus was released on 25 April, now presented in an elegant limited edition 2-LP vinyl edition, which includes all previous liner notes in a high-gradeprint-run.

This year’s Arvo Pärt Centre residency scholarships have been awarded to British composer Graham Fitkin and Macedonian poet and essayist Nikola Madzhirov. A total of 116 creative professionals from 36 countries applied for the two scholarships. The highest number of applications came from Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Within the framework of the joint project, 9 residency spaces from LOORE network will host Ukrainian artists. The two-month residencies in diverse creative spaces around Estonia offer Ukrainian artists a nourishing work environment and networking opportunities. The Arvo Pärt Centre has selected Ukrainian composer Anna Leonova for a creative residency.