On 26 August, Zoltán Rácz and the Concerto Budapest present the Hungarian première of Arvo Pärt’s Greater Antiphons at the Arcus Temporum festival in Pannonhalma. Also on the programme: Fratres and Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten.
Arvo Pärt’s Berliner Messe, Magnificat and Da Pacem Domine will be performed on 28 July together with works by Johann Sebastian Bach at this year’s Reykholt Festival, one of the oldest and most established music festivals in Iceland. Hörður Áskelsson conducts the Schola Cantorum and the Reykholt Festival Chamber Orchestra.
Arvo Pärt is featured composer of this year’s London International A Cappella Choral Competition (LIACCC), which runs from 25 June until 1 July. This year 16 choirs from 11 countries will be competing. Each group must prepare one work by featured composer Arvo Pärt, one piece of Renaissance Polyphony, plus music of the group’s own choice.
A highlight of the event will the concert by Peter Phillips and the Tallis Scholars on Friday 30 June, when they will be performing Arvo Pärt’s Nunc Dimittis and Triodion.
In 2015 the Tallis Scholars’ released their highly acclaimed CD Arvo Pärt: Tintinnabuli. Visit the website of Gimell to read the liner notes and listen to excerpts of the recording’s 23 tracks.
The composer on Arvo Pärt: Tintinnabuli:
I am delighted to hear of this CD's success. I have been very impressed not only by The Tallis Scholars' excellent and precise interpretation but also by the way this recording is presented, it proves a deep understanding of the system on which my compositions are based. An exemplary, flawless project which gives me much pleasure.
The Staatskapelle Dresden has released its 2017/2018 programme: Arvo Pärt will be the new Composer-in-Residence of the Sächsische Staatskapelle. His oeuvre will be featured in several concerts as well as in a special Portrait Concert. 19 works by the Composer-in-Residence will be performed throughout the whole season.
Find out more on the website of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden
But it's actually looking forward, it’s for a reason, it’s a positive thing, and I think that this last page is the most stunning page of music you could ever wish to hear. (David James on Passio)
Benedict Collins Rice and The Facade Ensemble will perform Arvo Pärt’s Passio today at St Michael at the North Gate in Oxford. Further performances take place on 6, 7 and 12 April in London, Peterbourough and Ely respectively.
Arvo Pärt with Gidon Kremer, Tatjana Grindenko and the Kremerata Baltica rehearsing Tabula rasa at the Fondation Louis Vuitton – a work that Kremer and Grindenko premièred 40 years ago (on 30 September 1977) and later recorded on ECM’s homonymous seminal album.
Tabula rasa, Fratres, Passacaglia and the French première of Greater Antiphons will be performed tomorrow and the day after at the Fondation Louis Vuitton’s Hommage à Arvo Pärt.
On 20 February Arvo Pärt was awarded the Cultural Merit Order of Romania (Meritul Cultural). The order was awarded by President of Romania Klaus Iohannis in recognition of the dedication, talent and innovativeness of the composer throughout his creative journey, as well as his open and receptive attitude to the cultural merits of Romania.
Find out more on the website of the Arvo Pärt Centre.
25 years ago today, on 9 February 1992, Wolfgang Rihm’s opera Die Eroberung von Mexico was first heard at the Hamburg State Opera – Ingo Metzmacher conducted.
On the same day in 1992, Arvo Pärt’s And One of the Pharisees ... was given its world première by Paul Hillier and the Theatre of Voices.
In 1949, the orchestral suite of Gottfried von Einem’s Dantons Tod was premièred in Baden Baden by the Radio Orchestra.
… and on this day in 1945, Frank Martin’s Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke was performed for the very first time in Basel by the Basel Chamber Orchestra and Paul Sacher.
And Happy Birthday Alban Berg! He was born on 9 February 1885, 132 years ago today.
The first-ever festival in North America dedicated to the music of Arvo Pärt runs from 5 to 12 February. The Arvo Pärt Festival takes place in Portland, Oregon and is presented by the Cappella Romana.
From the press release:
The Arvo Pärt Festival features eight (8) live performances of music by Arvo Pärt with chamber music (including Spiegel im Spiegel), the complete organ works, a cappella choral works (including selections of the Kanon Pokajanen), a late-night performance of the Passio by candlelight, the Missa Syllabica sung in a Latin mass, and a festival finale featuring Pärt’s Te Deum for three choirs, strings, and prepared piano, Da Pacem Domine (commissioned by Jordi Savall in memory of the victims of the Madrid terrorist bombings in 2004), and the US premiere of Alleluia-Tropus celebrating St. Nicholas.
The live events of the festival will be preceded with a screening of the new film “Arvo Pärt: Even if I lose everything” at Whitsell Auditorium, NW Film Center.
“While Bachtrack is yet to officially publish the statistics on its website, it has confirmed in a private tweet exchange that Pärt is, indeed, the world’s most performed living composer sixth year running.” (estonian world)
Congratulations Arvo Pärt!
José Luis López-Linares’ documentary film “Bosch: The Garden of Dreams”, produced by LópezLiFilms and the Prado Museum, features music by Arvo Pärt.
Watch the trailer here:
Zubin Mehta and Arvo Pärt preparing for the performances of Swansong on August 6 and 7 at the Salzburg Festival. Mehta conducts the Vienna Philharmonic.
Conductor Michael Laus, Arvo Pärt and the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra during the rehearsals for the Maltese première of Greater Antiphons, which will take place today at the Malta International Arts Festival. The piece for string orchestra will be performed together with other key works by the composer.
Our thanks to Michael Pärt and the Arvo Pärt Centre for the photographs!
On 22 June, Arvo Pärt received an honorary degree in Music from Oxford University at the annual Encaenia ceremony.
Nine distinguished figures from the fields of theology, law, economics, architecture, film, science, engineering and music received honorary degrees at the ceremony held at the Sheldonian Theatre.
These were Arvo Pärt, economist Paul Krugman, film director Pedro Almodóvar, architect Kazuyo Sejima, philosopher and theologian Tomáš Halík, Lord Johathan Mance, a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, neurobiologist Cornelia Bargmann, physicist Mildred Dresselhaus and Sir Jonathan Ive, Chief Design Officer of Apple Inc.
Congratulations!
Pärt’s orchestration is exceptional and delves subtly into colors within the limited palette, for instance using open strings and harmonics to create shining, single-note highlights. The performance was a good one, breathing and luminous. (Timothy Mangan, The Orange County Register, 29 May 2016)
Together with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Gustavo Dudamel performed the world première of Arvo Pärt’s Greater Antiphons for string orchestraon 28 May at the Mozart & Pärt festival in Los Angeles.
Read Timothy Mangan’s full review in The Orange County Register.