The Arvo Pärt Centre and the composer Arvo Pärt cordially congratulate the composer Jaan Rääts on his 85th birthday.
The two important Estonian composers already met when they were students. Both Jaan Rääts and Arvo Pärt studied composition at the Tallinn State Conservatory with the legendary professor Heino Eller. As members of the innovative generation of the 1960s, the young composers introduced virtually every important modernist style and composition technique of the 20th century to Estonian music.
Arvo Pärt and Jaan Rääts are not merely colleagues in their creative work. They have also worked together as sound engineers at Estonian Radio: Jaan Rääts from 1955 until 1966 and Arvo Pärt from 1958 until 1967.
We would like to wish Jaan Rääts many more creative years to come!