Arvo Pärt is the world’s most performed contemporary composer, according to Bachtrack

The classical music website Bachtrack has published its annual list of classical music concerts around the world in 2025, which once again places Arvo Pärt as the world’s most performed contemporary composer.

Following Arvo Pärt, the top five also includes John Williams, Philip Glass, John Adams and Thomas Adès.

According to Michael Pärt, chairman of the board of the Arvo Pärt Centre and the composer’s son, what is striking is not only the large number of performances worldwide in the year of Arvo Pärt’s 90th birthday but also the openness of audiences to this music. “The fact that his music continues to be performed so widely shows how strong the longing is for spiritual and profound music that can speak to people across cultures and serve as a unifying force in an increasingly divided world,” Michael Pärt said.

Last year, five of the ten most performed works by living composers were by Arvo Pärt. Fratres, Da pacem Domine, Magnificat and Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten were the four most frequently performed works overall, and Arvo Pärt’s choral piece Tribute to Caesar featured in the top ten.

The Arvo Pärt Centre also regularly collects data on performances of Arvo Pärt’s music around the world. In the composer’s anniversary year, the centre received information on 1,130 concerts and six music festivals dedicated to Arvo Pärt. His music is at the centre of the 2025–2026 season at the prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York, and Leipzig’s Gewandhaus has named Arvo Pärt its composer-in-residence for the years 2025–2027.

According to the centre’s data, Fratres was the most performed work last year, with 248 performances. Da pacem Domine was heard 141 times, Magnificat appeared in 100 concert programmes, Spiegel im Spiegel was performed 97 times and Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten 90 times.

Arvo Pärt’s music was performed most often in Germany, Estonia, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Netherlands. These were followed by Italy, Finland, Switzerland, Australia and France, according to data collected by the Arvo Pärt Centre.

Bachtrack’s statistics show that in 2025 the most frequently performed composers of all time were Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Sebastian Bach, Maurice Ravel and Johannes Brahms. The most performed work of the year was Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.

Estonian conductor Paavo Järvi was among the five busiest conductors of the year.

The UK-based Bachtrack’s rankings are based on data from 31,455 musical events held last year. The website gathers data mainly from major concert organisations in Europe and North America, providing an overview of key trends in the Western classical music.

According to Bachtrack, Arvo Pärt was also the world’s most performed living classical composer in 2022 and for eight consecutive years from 2012 to 2019.

For more information on Bachtrack’s annual list, see https://bachtrack.com/classical-music-statistics-2025