News

The Joseph Ratzinger Foundation, also known as the Pope Benedict XVI Foundation in the Vatican, has announced that in addition to outstanding theologians the winners of this year’s Ratzinger Prize also include the composer Arvo Pärt.

On 22 September the National Library of Estonia and the Arvo Pärt Centre signed a cooperation agreement, under which the library of the Arvo Pärt Centre will soon be accessible to the public through the ESTER digital catalogue.

In honour of Arvo Pärt’s 82nd birthday, the musicology conference, “Arvo Pärt: Icon of Modernity” was held on 11 September in London. The short yet dense conference was organised by the Royal Academy of Music in cooperation with the Estonian Embassy in London and convened by Professor Robert Sholl, musicologist and researcher of Pärt’s work.

The summer season of the Nargenfestival will culminate as always with the Arvo Pärt Days. During 2 – 11 September, these concerts will extend to completely new venues all over Estonia.

From 23 to 25 August, Sõprus Cinema will screen three films in which Arvo Pärt’s music plays an important part. This year’s Arvo Pärt Centre Film Nights will focus on works by the Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev, who will also be attending the screenings in Tallinn.

The Arvo Pärt Centre interviews Russian musicologist, teacher and singer Svetlana Savenko, who has studied the aesthetics and style of Arvo Pärt's works, where she talks about her experience of Arvo Pärt's work.

The Music in Movement (MiM) project highlights the richness of European contemporary music by tracing the stories of four eminent composers: Louis Andriessen, Pierre Boulez, Arvo Pärt and Kazimierz Serocki. Through accessible themes, quizzes and, most importantly, a wealth of music, MiM reaches out to a broad audience in a new and engaging way. At the same time users with a background in music will be able to discover interesting storylines as well as delightful footage.

The 9th European Music Analysis Conference (EuroMAC 9) took place in Strasbourg from 28 June to 1 July 2017, with hundreds of musicologists from all over the world. This year’s conference focused on two larger topics: the future of musicology, and the relationship between different expressions of music analysis and music (composition, interpretation, improvisation, audience reception).

On 19 June the cornerstone for Arvo Pärt Centre’s new building was laid at Laulasmaa, Estonia. Watch the video of the ceremony.

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.