Editing Arvo Pärt

{{Short description|Estonian composer (born 1935)}}
{{Redirect|Pärt|the Estonian handballer|Armi Pärt|the Estonian music producer|Michael Pärt}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Arvo Pärt
| image              = Arvo Pärt.jpg
| caption            = Pärt at [[Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin]], 2008
| birth_name         = 
| birth_date         = {{Birth date and age|1935|09|11|df=y}}
| birth_place        = [[Paide]], Järva County, Estonia
| death_date         = 
| death_place        = 
| alma_mater         = [[Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre]]
| occupation         = Composer
| works              = [[List of compositions by Arvo Pärt|List of compositions]]
| spouse             = Nora Pärt
| awards             = {{plainlist|
* [[List of members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Department of Music#P|American Academy of Arts and Letters]]
* [[Order of the National Coat of Arms]]
* [[Brückepreis]]
* [[Léonie Sonning Music Prize]]
* [[Légion d'honneur]]
}}
}}
'''Arvo Pärt''' ({{IPA|et|ˈɑrvo ˈpært}}; born 11 September 1935) is an [[Estonia]]n composer of [[contemporary classical music]]. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a [[Minimal music|minimalist]] style that employs [[tintinnabuli]], a compositional technique he invented. Pärt's music is in part inspired by [[Gregorian chant]]. His most performed works include ''[[Fratres]]'' (1977), ''[[Spiegel im Spiegel]]'' (1978), and ''[[Für Alina]]'' (1976). From 2011 to 2018, and again in 2022, Pärt was the most performed living composer in the world, and the second most performed in 2019, after [[John Williams]].<!--Before you become the latest newbie to fall into this open manhole: this is the lead section, which merely summarizes the article contents. It does not require any citations, so long as the claims are verified elsewhere in the article. This claim is verified in the paragraph beginning "Pärt has been the most performed living composer in the world", if you will take the trouble to read the article itself.--> The [[Arvo Pärt Centre]], in [[Laulasmaa]], was opened to the public in 2018.

== Early life, family and education ==
Pärt was born in [[Paide]], [[Järva County]], Estonia, and was raised by his mother and stepfather in [[Rakvere]] in northern Estonia.<ref name=estonianworld>{{cite web|url=http://estonianworld.com/culture/sounds-emanating-love-story-arvo-part/|title=Sounds emanating love – the story of Arvo pärt | work= EstonianWorld.com | publisher= |date=11 September 2015|access-date=22 August 2017}}</ref> He began to experiment with the top and bottom notes of the family's piano as the middle register was damaged.<ref name="sinfinimusic">{{cite web| url= http://sinfinimusic.com/uk/learn/composers/arvo-paert |title= Arvo Pärt| website=sinfinimusic.com| publisher= Sinfini Music | date= | access-date= |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20130904212746/http://sinfinimusic.com/uk/learn/composers/arvo-paert/ |archivedate=4 September 2013}}</ref>

Pärt's musical education began at the age of seven when he began attending music school in Rakvere. By his early teenage years, Pärt was writing his own compositions. His first serious study came in 1954 at the Tallinn Music Middle School, but less than a year later he temporarily abandoned it to fulfill military service, playing [[oboe]] and percussion in the army band.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.allmusic.com/artist/arvo-p%C3%A4rt-mn0000929776/biography|title=Arvo Pärt – Biography & History|website=AllMusic|access-date=24 October 2017}}</ref> After his military service he attended the [[Tallinn Conservatory]], where he studied composition with [[Heino Eller]]<ref name="playbill">{{cite magazine| title= Program Notes | magazine= Playbill| publisher= [[New York City Ballet]]| date= January 2008}}</ref> and it was said of him, "he just seemed to shake his sleeves and the notes would fall out".<ref>{{cite book| first= P.| last= Hillier| title= Arvo Pärt| year= 1997| page= 27| publisher= | isbn= }}</ref> During the 1950s, he also completed his first vocal composition, the [[cantata]] ''Meie aed'' ('Our Garden') for children's choir and orchestra. He graduated in 1963.

==Career==
As a student, Pärt composed music for film and the stage, creating scores for over fifty movies. Although filmmaking and film music were not primary sources of inspiration for him, these compositions provided a medium for exploring serial and tonal techniques—an amalgamation that would later influence his collage works of the 1960s.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cizmic |first=Maria |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/12039 |title=Performing PainMusic and Trauma in Eastern Europe |date=2011-12-05 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-973460-3 |page=110 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199734603.001.0001}}</ref> From 1957 to 1967, he worked as a sound producer for the Estonian public radio broadcaster [[Eesti Rahvusringhääling]].

[[Tikhon Khrennikov]] criticized Pärt in 1962 for employing [[serialism]] in ''Nekrolog'' (1960), the first 12-tone music written in Estonia,<ref name=Allison/> which exhibited his "susceptibility to foreign influences". But nine months later Pärt won First Prize in a competition of 1,200 works, awarded by the all-''Union Society of Composers'', indicating the Soviet regime's inability to agree on what was permissible.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Misiunas |first1=Romuald J.|last2=Rein |first2=Taagepera |year=1983 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FJejwedGesMC&pg=PA170 |title=The Baltic States, Years of Dependence, 1940–1980 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-04625-2 |page=170}}</ref> His first overtly sacred piece, ''Credo'' (1968), was a turning point in his career and life; on a personal level he had reached a creative crisis that led him to renounce the techniques and means of expression used so far; on a social level the religious nature of this piece resulted in him being unofficially censured and his music disappearing from concert halls. For the next eight years he composed very little, focusing instead on study of [[Medieval music|medieval]] and [[Renaissance music]] to find his new musical language. In 1972 he converted from [[Lutheranism]] to [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christianity]].<ref name="NYT Robin">{{cite web |last=Robin |first=William |date=18 May 2014 |title=His Music, Entwined With His Faith |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/18/arts/music/at-heart-of-arvo-parts-works-eastern-orthodox-christianity.html |access-date=15 December 2019 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref><ref name= "APC biography">{{cite web |url=https://www.arvopart.ee/en/arvo-part/ |title=Arvo Pärt Biography |work=[[Arvo Pärt Centre]] |access-date=15 December 2019}}</ref>

Pärt reemerged as a composer in 1976 with music in his new compositional style and technique, tintinnabuli.<ref name= "APC biography"/>

On 10 December 2011, [[Pope Benedict XVI]] appointed Pärt a member of the [[Pontifical Council for Culture]] for a five-year renewable term.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://press.catholica.va/news_services/bulletin/news/28516.php?index=28516&lang=en |title= Nomina di Membris del Pontifico Consiglio Della Cultura| website= press.catholica.va| publisher= |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121107142020/http://press.catholica.va/news_services/bulletin/news/28516.php?index=28516&lang=en |archive-date=7 November 2012 | trans-title= Appointment of Members of the Pontifical Council for Culture| language= Italian| access-date= 9 February 2021}}</ref>

In 2014 ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' described Pärt as possibly "the world's greatest living composer" and "by a long way, Estonia's most celebrated export". When asked how Estonian he felt his music to be, Pärt replied: "I don't know what is Estonian... I don't think about these things." Unlike many of his fellow Estonian composers, Pärt never found inspiration in the country's epic poem, ''[[Kalevipoeg]]'', even in his early works. Pärt said, "My ''Kalevipoeg'' is Jesus Christ."<ref name=Allison>{{cite news |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalmusic/11273603/Arvo-Part-interview-music-says-what-I-need-to-say.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalmusic/11273603/Arvo-Part-interview-music-says-what-I-need-to-say.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |first=John |last=Allison |title=Arvo Pärt interview: 'music says what I need to say'|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=12 December 2014|access-date=23 August 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

==Music==
{{see also|List of compositions by Arvo Pärt}}

===Overview===
Familiar works by Pärt are ''[[Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten]]'' for [[string orchestra]] and bell (1977) and the [[string quintet]] ''[[Fratres]] I'' (1977, revised 1983), which he transcribed for string orchestra and percussion, the solo violin "Fratres II" and the cello ensemble "Fratres III" (both 1980).

Pärt is often identified with the school of [[Minimalist music|minimalism]] and, more specifically, that of mystic minimalism or [[holy minimalism]].<ref>For example, in an essay by Christopher Norris called "Post-modernism: a guide for the perplexed," found in Gary K. Browning, Abigail Halcli, Frank Webster, ''Understanding Contemporary Society: Theories of the Present'', 2000.</ref> He is considered a pioneer of the latter style, along with contemporaries [[Henryk Górecki]] and [[John Tavener]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Thomas |first=Adrian |author-link=Adrian Thomas (composer) |title=Górecki |location=Oxford |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K81gRix2VAAC&pg=PA135 |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-19-816393-0 |page=135}}</ref> Although his fame initially rested on instrumental works such as ''[[Tabula Rasa (Pärt)|Tabula Rasa]]'' and ''[[Spiegel im Spiegel]]'', his [[choral]] works have also come to be widely appreciated.

In this period of Estonian history, Pärt was unable to encounter many musical influences from outside the Soviet Union except for a few illegal tapes and scores. Although Estonia had been an independent state at the time of Pärt's birth, the [[Soviet occupation of Estonia|Soviet Union occupied it in 1940]] as a result of the Soviet–[[Nazis|Nazi]] [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]]; and the country would then remain under Soviet domination—except for the three-year period of German wartime occupation—for the next 51 years.

===Development===
[[File:Arvo Pärt, 2011.jpg|thumb|Pärt at the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Estonia)|Estonian Foreign Ministry]] in 2011]]
Pärt's works are generally divided into two periods. He composed his early works using a range of [[Neoclassicism (music)|neo-classical]] styles influenced by [[Dmitri Shostakovich|Shostakovich]], [[Sergei Prokofiev|Prokofiev]], and [[Béla Bartók|Bartók]]. He then began to compose using [[Arnold Schoenberg|Schoenberg's]] [[twelve-tone technique]] and serialism. This, however, not only earned the ire of the Soviet establishment but also proved to be a creative dead-end. When Soviet censors banned early works, Pärt entered the first of several periods of contemplative silence, during which he studied choral music from the 14th to 16th centuries.<ref name="playbill" /> In this context, Pärt's biographer, [[Paul Hillier]], observed that "he had reached a position of complete despair in which the composition of music appeared to be the most futile of gestures, and he lacked the musical faith and willpower to write even a single note."<ref>P. Hillier, ''Arvo Pärt'', 1997, p. 64.</ref>

In his work ''Credo'' (1968), written for solo piano, orchestra, and chorus, he employed [[Avant-garde music|avant-garde]] techniques. This work differed in its forms and context from his earlier [[Atonality|atonal]] and tintinnabula works. Inspired by 14th and 16th century liturgical music, he used a [[Polystylism|poly-stylistic]] compositional technique to express his faith in God while incorporating avant-garde techniques of the 20th century. By definition, a [[credo]] expresses beliefs and guides religious action, and in his work it represents his faith in God. The Soviets eventually banned the work due to its clear religious context, even though it incorporated avant-garde and a constructivist procedure.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Medić|first=Ivana|date=2010|title=I Believe… in What? Arvo Pärt's and Alfred Schnittke's Polystylistic Credos|url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1179/136174210X12814458213727|journal=Slavonica|language=en|volume=16|issue=2|pages=96–111|doi=10.1179/136174210X12814458213727|s2cid=159776256|issn=1361-7427}}</ref>

The spirit of early European [[Polyphony#European_polyphony|polyphony]] informed the composition of Pärt's transitional [[Symphony No. 3 (Pärt)|Third Symphony (1971)]]; after that, he immersed himself in early music, reinvestigating the roots of Western music. He studied [[plainsong]], [[Gregorian chant]], and the emergence of [[polyphony]] in the European [[Renaissance music|Renaissance]].

The music that began to emerge after this period was radically different. This period of new compositions included the 1977 works ''[[Fratres]]'', ''[[Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten]]'' and ''[[Tabula Rasa (Pärt)|Tabula Rasa]]''.<ref name="playbill" /> Pärt describes the music of this period as "[[tintinnabuli]]"—like the ringing of bells. ''[[Spiegel im Spiegel]]'' (1978) is a well-known example used in many films. The music is characterised by simple [[harmony|harmonies]], often single unadorned notes, or [[Chord (music)|triads]], which form the basis of Western harmony. These are reminiscent of ringing bells. Tintinnabuli works are rhythmically simple and do not change tempo. In this technique, each syllable of a word is assigned to a pitch and a duration. Once two or three words have been connected, a phrase has been made.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Muzzo |first=Grace Kingsbury |date=2008 |title=Systems, Symbols, & Silence: The Tintinnabuli Technique of Arvo Pärt into the Twenty-First Century |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23557279 |journal=The Choral Journal |volume=49 |issue=6 |pages=22–35 |jstor=23557279 |issn=0009-5028}}</ref> Another characteristic of Pärt's later works is that they are frequently settings for sacred texts, although he mostly chooses [[Latin]] or the [[Church Slavonic language]] used in Orthodox liturgy instead of his native [[Estonian language]]. Large-scale works inspired by religious texts include ''[[Berliner Messe]]'', ''[[Passio (Pärt)|St. John Passion]]'' and ''[[Te Deum (Pärt)|Te Deum]]''; the author of the famous text of ''Litany'' is the 4th-century theologian [[John Chrysostom]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Litany |url=https://www.arvopart.ee/en/arvo-part/work/501/ |publisher=arvopart.ee |access-date=18 July 2020}}</ref> Choral works from this period include [[Magnificat (Pärt)|''Magnificat'']] and ''The Beatitudes''.<ref name="playbill" />

== Reception and later compositions ==
{{BLP sources section|date=July 2020}}
Pärt was the most performed living composer in the world from 2011 to 2018, but then the second-most performed composer, after [[John Williams]].<ref>{{cite web|url= https://estonianworld.com/culture/arvo-part-was-the-worlds-second-most-performed-living-composer-in-2019/|title=Arvo Pärt was the world's second most performed living composer in 2019 | work = Estonian world |date=7 January 2020 |access-date=10 March 2020}}</ref> In 2022, Arvo was back to the top in Bachtrack. Of Pärt's popularity, [[Steve Reich]] has written:
{{Blockquote|  Even in Estonia, Arvo was getting the same feeling that we were all getting... I love his music, and I love the fact that he is such a brave, talented man…  He's completely out of step with the [[zeitgeist]] and yet he's enormously popular, which is so inspiring. His music fulfills a deep human need that has nothing to do with fashion.<ref>Hodgkinson, Will. [https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/jan/02/1 "The Reich stuff"]. ''[[The Guardian]]'', 2 January 2004. Retrieved, 18 February 2011.</ref>}}
Pärt's music came to public attention in the West largely thanks to [[Manfred Eicher]] who recorded several of Pärt's compositions for [[ECM Records]] starting in 1984. Pärt wrote ''[[Cecilia, vergine romana]]'' on an Italian text about life and martyrdom of [[Saint Cecilia]], the [[patron saint]] of music, for choir and orchestra on a commission for the [[Great Jubilee]] in Rome, where it was performed, close to her feast day on 22 November, by the [[Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia]] conducted by [[Myung-whun Chung]].

Invited by [[Walter Fink]], Pärt was the 15th composer featured in the annual [[Rheingau Musik Festival#Portraits of living composers|Komponistenporträt]] of the [[Rheingau Musik Festival]] in 2005 in four concerts. Chamber music included ''[[Für Alina]]'' for piano, played by himself, ''[[Spiegel im Spiegel]]'' and ''Psalom'' for string quartet. The chamber orchestra of the [[Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra]] played his ''Trisagion'', ''[[Fratres]]'' and ''[[Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten|Cantus]]'' along with works of [[Johann Sebastian Bach|J.S. Bach]]. The [[Windsbach Boys Choir]] and soloists [[Sibylla Rubens]], [[Ingeborg Danz]], [[Markus Schäfer]] and [[Klaus Mertens]] performed ''[[Magnificat (Pärt)|Magnificat]]'' and ''[[Collage sur B-A-C-H|Collage über B-A-C-H]]'' together with two [[Church cantata (Bach)|Bach cantatas]] and one by [[Felix Mendelssohn|Mendelssohn]]. The [[Hilliard Ensemble]], organist [[Christopher Bowers-Broadbent]], the [[Rostock Motet Choir]] and the Hilliard instrumental ensemble, conducted by {{Interlanguage link|Markus Johannes Langer|de}}, performed a program of Pärt's organ music and works for voices (some ''a cappella''), including ''[[Pari intervallo]]'', [[De profundis (Pärt)|De profundis]], and [[Miserere (Pärt)|Miserere]].

A composition, ''Für Lennart'', written for the memory of the Estonian President, [[Lennart Meri]], was played at Meri's funeral service on 26 March 2006.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.arvopart.ee/en/arvo-part/work/438/|title=Für Lennart in memoriam – Arvo Pärt Centre|website=www.arvopart.ee|accessdate=7 April 2022}}</ref>

[[File:Arvo Pärt ja Nora Pärt.jpg|thumb|upright|Pärt with his wife Nora in 2012]]
In response to the [[Assassination of Anna Politkovskaya|murder of the Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya]] in Moscow on 7 October 2006, Pärt declared that all of his works performed in 2006 and 2007 would be in honour of her death, issuing the following statement: "Anna Politkovskaya staked her entire talent, energy and—in the end—even her life on saving people who had become victims of the abuses prevailing in Russia."<ref>{{cite journal|year=2007 |title=Arvo Pärt commemorates Politkovskaja |journal=Universal Edition Newsletter |issue=Winter 2006/2007 |page=13 |publisher=Universal Edition|url=http://www.universaledition.com/tl_files/News_Dateien/Newsletter_pdf/2007_01_en.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717163651/http://www.universaledition.com/tl_files/News_Dateien/Newsletter_pdf/2007_01_en.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-17 |url-status=live |access-date=19 February 2011}}</ref>

Pärt was honoured as the featured composer of the 2008 [[Raidió Teilifís Éireann]] Living Music Festival<ref>{{cite press release |url=http://www.rte.ie/about/en/press-office/press-releases/2008/0218/292412-performinggroupsfeb182008/ |title=Arvo Pärt describes RTÉ Living Music Festival as 'best festival of my life' |publisher=Raidió Teilifís Éireann}}</ref> in Dublin, Ireland. He was also commissioned by Louth Contemporary Music Society<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.louthcms.org/projects/baltic-voices-ireland-arvo-parts-world-premiere/|title=Baltic Voices in Ireland: Arvo Pärt's World Premiere – Louth Contemporary Music Society|access-date=12 October 2018}}{{Dead link|date=April 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> to compose a new choral work based on "[[Saint Patrick's Breastplate]]", which premiered in 2008 in [[County Louth]], Ireland. The new work, ''[[The Deer's Cry (Pärt)|The Deer's Cry]]'', is his first Irish commission, and received its debut in [[Drogheda]] and [[Dundalk]] in February 2008.<ref name="Music News">{{cite web | title=Premiere of "The Deer's Cry" by Arvo Pärt in Ireland | website=Music News | url=https://www.emic.ee/premiere-of--the-deers-cry--by-arvo-part-in-ireland | access-date=7 April 2022}}</ref>

Pärt's 2008 [[Symphony No. 4 (Pärt)|Fourth Symphony is named ''Los Angeles'']] and was dedicated to [[Mikhail Khodorkovsky]]. It was Pärt's first symphony written since his [[Symphony No. 3 (Pärt)|Third Symphony]] of 1971. It premiered in [[Los Angeles]], California, at the [[Walt Disney Concert Hall]] on 10 January 2009,<ref>[https://archive.today/20120905093502/http://www.laphil.com/music/piece_detail.cfm?id=2711 In Detail: Arvo Pärt's Symphony No. 4 'Los Angeles']. Retrieved 27 January 2009.</ref> and was nominated for a [[Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition]] in 2010.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/arvo-part|title=Arvo Part|date=22 May 2018|access-date=12 October 2018}}</ref>

On 26 January 2014, [[Tõnu Kaljuste]], conducting the [[Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir]], the Sinfonietta Riga, the [[Tallinn Chamber Orchestra]], the [[Latvian Radio Choir]] and the Vox Clamantis ensemble, won a [[Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance|Grammy for Best Choral Performance]] for a performance of Pärt's ''[[Adam's Lament (Pärt)|Adam's Lament]]''.<ref>[http://estonianworld.com/culture/arvo-parts-adams-lament-wins-grammy-award-in-the-best-choral-performance-category/ Arvo Pärt's "Adam's Lament" wins Grammy Award in the Best Choral Performance category!]. Retrieved 26 January 2014.</ref> Describing aspects of Pärt's music as "[[glocal]]" in approach, Estonian musicologist Kerri Kotta noted that the composer "has been able to translate something very human into sound that crosses the borders normally separating people."<ref>Kotta, Kerri (2018). Mixed identities in Arvo Pärt's Adam's Lament. In David G. Hebert & Mikolaj Rykowski, eds., ''Music Glocalization: Heritage and Innovation in a Digital Age''. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars, p.133.</ref>

== Awards ==
{{div col}}
* 1996 – [[List of members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Department of Music#P|American Academy of Arts and Letters Department of Music]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Arvo-Part|title=Arvo Pärt – Estonian composer|publisher=britannica.com|access-date=15 October 2018}}</ref>
* 1996 – Honorary Doctor of Music, [[University of Sydney]]<ref>
{{cite web
 | url=http://www.usyd.edu.au/senate/honawardshistoricalyear.shtml#1996
 | title=Honorary Awards: University of Sydney
 | access-date=12 January 2009
| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081204234931/http://www.usyd.edu.au/senate/honawardshistoricalyear.shtml| archive-date= 4 December 2008 |url-status = live}}</ref>
* 1998 – Honorary Doctor of Arts, [[University of Tartu]]<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=liDaAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT25|title=The Cambridge Companion to Arvo Pärt|first=Andrew|last=Shenton|date=17 May 2012|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-49566-1}}</ref>
* 2003 – Honorary Doctor of Music, [[Durham University]]<ref>
{{cite web
 |url          = http://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/ceremonies/congregation/part_arvo.pdf
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20121019021314/http://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/ceremonies/congregation/part_arvo.pdf
 |url-status = dead
 |archive-date = 19 October 2012
|title        = Arvo Pärt: Doctor of Music
 |date         = 15 October 2003
|access-date   = 31 May 2008}}</ref>
* 2006 – [[Order of the National Coat of Arms]] 1st Class<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.postimees.ee/1521221/president-arnold-ruutel-jagab-heldelt-uliharuldast-ordenit|title=President Arnold Rüütel jagab heldelt üliharuldast ordenit|date=12 January 2006|work=Postimees|access-date=25 September 2014}}</ref>
* 2007 – [[Brückepreis]]<ref>
{{cite web
 | url=http://www.brueckepreis.de/brueckepreis/index.asp?ID=21&art_param=17&reduce=0
 | title=Internationaler Brückepreis geht an: / 2007 – Arvo Pärt / Estnischer Komponist
 | trans-title=International Brückepreis goes to: / 2007 – Arvo Pärt/ Estonian composer
 | year= 2007
 | access-date=17 August 2017
| language=de}}</ref>
* 2008 – [[Léonie Sonning Music Prize]], Denmark<ref name="Léonie Sonnings Musikpris 2008">{{cite web | title=Arvo Pärt | website=Léonie Sonnings Musikpris | date=2 May 2008 | url=https://www.sonningmusik.dk/arvo-paert/?lang=en | access-date=12 July 2021}}</ref>
* 2008 – [[Austrian Decoration for Science and Art|Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, First Class]]<ref>
{{cite web
 | url=http://diepresse.com/home/kultur/news/382689/Arvo-Paert-erhielt-Ehrenkreuz-von-Osterreich
 | title=DiePresse.com
 | date=9 May 2008
| access-date=31 March 2014}}</ref>
* 2009 – Foreign Member, [[Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts]]<ref name="Mathematical Institute 2021">{{cite web | title=Endre Süli elected Foreign Member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts | website=Mathematical Institute | date=10 May 2021 | url=https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/node/605 | access-date=12 July 2021}}</ref>
* 2010 – Honorary Doctor of Music, [[University of St Andrews]]<ref>
{{cite web
 |url=http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/news/Title,34332,en.html 
 |title=Honorary Degrees June 2009 
 |date=17 June 2009 |access-date=18 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090624030344/http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/news/Title%2C34332%2Cen.html 
 |archive-date=24 June 2009 |url-status = dead
}}</ref>
* 2011 – Chevalier (Knight) of [[Légion d'honneur]], France<ref>{{cite web
 | url=http://www.ambafrance-ee.org/Le-compositeur-Arvo-Part-decore-de
 | title=Le compositeur Arvo Pärt décoré de l'ordre de la Légion d'Honneur
 | publisher=ambafrance-ee.org
 | access-date=3 November 2011
 | archive-date=21 March 2012
 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321225304/http://www.ambafrance-ee.org/Le-compositeur-Arvo-Part-decore-de
 | url-status=dead
 }}</ref>
* 2011 – Membership of the [[Pontifical Council for Culture]]<ref>
{{cite web
 | url=http://visnews-en.blogspot.com/2011/12/other-pontifical-acts_12.html
 | title=Vatican information service
 | date=12 December 2011
| access-date=12 December 2011}}</ref>
* 2013 – [[Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate|Archon]] of the [[Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople|Ecumenical Patriarchate]]<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.err.ee/culture/efde5477-32a8-4db5-ba5d-351be082ebcd|date=9 September 2013|access-date=9 September 2013|title=Arvo Pärt Receives Distinction from Patriarch Bartholomew}}</ref>
* 2014 – Recipient of the [[Praemium Imperiale]] award, Japan<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-arvo-part-athol-fugard-praemium-imperiale-awards-20140716-story.html|date=16 July 2014|access-date=18 July 2013|title=Arvo Pärt, Athol Fugard among recipients of Praemium Imperiale awards|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref>
* 2014 – Honorary Doctor of Sacred Music, [[Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary]]<ref>{{cite web
 |url          = http://www.svots.edu/sites/default/files/doctoral_citation_final.pdf
 |title        = Honorary Degrees May 2014
 |date         = 31 May 2014
 |publisher    = svots.edu
 |access-date  = 7 August 2014
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20140606000000/http://www.svots.edu/sites/default/files/doctoral_citation_final.pdf
 |archive-date = 6 June 2014
 |url-status   = live
}} [http://www.arvopart.ee/en/2014/06/st-vladimirs-seminary-awarded-an-honorar-doctor-of-sacred-music-degree-to-arvo-part/ Alt URL] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140815204805/http://www.arvopart.ee/en/2014/06/st-vladimirs-seminary-awarded-an-honorar-doctor-of-sacred-music-degree-to-arvo-part/ |date=15 August 2014 }}</ref>
* 2016 – Honorary Doctor of Music, [[University of Oxford]]<ref>{{cite web
 | url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2016-02-25-oxford-announces-honorary-degrees-2016
 | title=Oxford announces honorary degrees for 2016
 | date=25 February 2016
|publisher=ox.ac.uk
 | access-date=22 June 2016}}</ref>
* 2017 – [[Ratzinger Prize]], Germany<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2017/09/26/orthodox-lutheran-catholic-win-2017-ratzinger-prize/|title=An Orthodox, a Lutheran, and a Catholic win the 2017 Ratzinger Prize|date=26 September 2017|access-date=27 September 2017}}</ref>
*2018 – Gold [[Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis]], Poland<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://dzieje.pl/kultura-i-sztuka/kompozytor-arvo-part-uhonorowany-zlotym-medalem-zasluzony-kulturze-gloria-artis|title=Kompozytor Arvo Part uhonorowany Złotym Medalem Zasłużony Kulturze Gloria Artis|last=Łozińska|first=Olga|date=26 November 2018|work=dzieje.pl|access-date=27 November 2018|language=pl}}</ref><ref name="gloria">{{cite web |title=Lista laureatów Medalu Zasłużony Kulturze Gloria Artis |url=https://www.gov.pl/web/kultura/lista-laureatow-medalu-zasluzony-kulturze---gloria-artis |publisher=Ministerstwo Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego |access-date=14 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230301102507/https://www.gov.pl/web/kultura/lista-laureatow-medalu-zasluzony-kulturze---gloria-artis |archive-date=1 March 2023 |language=Polish}}</ref>
* 2018 – Honorary Doctor of Music, [[Fryderyk Chopin University of Music]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.arvopart.ee/en/two-eminent-prizes-to-arvo-part-from-poland/|title=Two eminent prizes to Arvo Pärt from Poland|date=25 November 2018|access-date=27 November 2018}}</ref>
* 2019 – [[Cross of Recognition]], 2nd Class, Latvia<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.baltic-course.com/eng2/baltic_news/?doc=20457 |title=Estonian composer Arvo Part decorated with Latvia's Cross of Recognition, 2nd Class |publisher=[[The Baltic Course]] |date=11 March 2019 |access-date=14 March 2019}}</ref>
* 2020 – [[BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards|Frontiers of Knowledge Award]], BBVA Foundation, Spain<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.arvopart.ee/en/arvo-part-receives-prestigious-award-in-spain/|title=Arvo Pärt receives Frontiers of Knowledge Award |publisher=[[Arvo Pärt Centre]] |date=31 March 2020 |access-date=7 May 2020}}</ref>
* 2021 – [[Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany]]<ref name="Deutschlandfunk Kultur 2021">{{cite web | title=Bundesverdienstkreuz für Arvo Pärt | website=[[Deutschlandfunk Kultur]] | date=13 November 2021 | url=https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/bundesverdienstkreuz-fuer-arvo-paert-102.html | language=de | access-date=13 November 2021}}</ref>
* 2022 – Officer of the [[Order of the Oak Crown]], Luxembourg<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.baltictimes.com/arvo_p_rt_awarded_the_state_order_of_luxembourg/ | title=Arvo Pärt awarded the state order of Luxembourg }}</ref>
* 2023 – [[Polar Music Prize]], Sweden<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.polarmusicprize.org/laureates/arvo-part | title=2023 Laureate – Arvo Pärt |publisher=Polar Music Prize |date=28 March 2023 |access-date=28 May 2023}}</ref>
* 2024 – Gold Medal of the [[Royal Philharmonic Society]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.classical-music.uk/news/article/rps-awards-gold-medal-to-arvo-part | title=RPS awards Gold Medal to Arvo Pärt }}</ref>
{{div col end}}

==Personal life==
He converted to Orthodox Christianity in 1972 upon marrying his second wife, Nora.<ref name= "NYT Robin"/>

In 1980, after a prolonged struggle with Soviet officials, he was allowed to emigrate with his wife and their two sons. He lived first in [[Vienna]], where he took Austrian citizenship, and then relocated to [[Berlin]] in 1981. He returned to Estonia around the turn of the 21st century and for a while lived alternately in Berlin<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.swr.de/swr2/.../swr2-musikstunde-20110427.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170823164619/https://www.swr.de/swr2/.../swr2-musikstunde-20110427.pdf |url-status = dead|archive-date=23 August 2017 |title=Radio :: SWR2 |website= SWR.de |access-date=25 September 2014 }}</ref> and [[Tallinn]].<ref name = "playbill"/> He now resides in [[Laulasmaa]], about {{convert|35|km}} from Tallinn.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/apr/19/arvo-part-the-symphonies-review-epic-journey-from-modernism-to-melodicism |title=Arvo Pärt: The Symphonies review – the Parts that make the whole |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |first=Andrew |last=Clements |date=19 April 2018 |access-date=21 October 2018}}</ref> He speaks fluent German as a result of living in Germany from 1981.<ref>{{cite book| first= P.| last= Hillier| title= Arvo Pärt| year= 1997| page= 33| publisher= | isbn= }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.theartsdesk.com/classical-music/arvo-p%C3%A4rt-special-1-how-sacred-music-scooped-interview |title=Arvo Pärt Special 1: How Sacred Music Scooped an Interview| website= theartsdesk.com| publisher= | access-date=25 September 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| first= P.|last= Bohlman| title= The Music of European Nationalism: Cultural Identity and Modern History| publisher= |page= 75| isbn= }}</ref>

In 2010, the Pärt family established the [[Arvo Pärt Centre]], an institution responsible for maintaining his personal archive, in the village of Laulasmaa. A new building of the centre opened to the visitors on 17 October 2018, containing a concert hall, a library, and research facilities. The centre also offers educational programmes for children and operates as an international information centre on Pärt's life and work.<ref name= APC>{{cite web |url=https://www.arvopart.ee/en/arvo-part-centre/about-the-centre/ |title=About the Centre |work=[[Arvo Pärt Centre]] |access-date=14 December 2019}}</ref>

In April 2020, although Pärt rarely gives interviews, he spoke to the Spanish newspaper [[ABC (newspaper)|''ABC'']] about the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], stating that it was a "mega [[fasting|fast]]" and reminded him to follow the example of [[John Updike]], who "once said that he tried to work with the same calm as the masters of the [[Middle Ages]], who carved the church pews in places where it was impossible to see them".<ref name= virus>{{cite news | first= Inés Martín |last= Rodrigo |title=Arvo Pärt: 'El virus demuestra que somos un único organismo' |trans-title=Arvo Pärt: 'The virus shows that we are a single organism' |date=7 April 2020 |url= https://www.abc.es/cultura/musica/abci-arvo-part-este-minusculo-virus-demuestra-humanos-solo-somos-organismo-mas-202004040038_noticia.html |language=es}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[List of Estonian composers]]

== Citations and references ==
{{Reflist}}

=== Cited sources ===
* [[Paul Hillier|Hillier, Paul]]. (1997). ''Arvo Pärt''. Oxford : [[Oxford University Press]]. {{ISBN|978-0-19-816616-0}} (paper)

== Further reading ==
* Chikinda, Michael (2011). "Pärt's Evolving ''Tintinnabuli'' Style". ''[[Perspectives of New Music]]'' 49, no. 1 (Winter): pp.&nbsp;182–206
* Pärt, Arvo; Enzo Restagno; [[Leopold Brauneiss]]; Saala Kareda (2012). ''Arvo Pärt in Conversation'', translated from the German by Robert Crow. Estonian Literature Series. Champaign, IL: [[Dalkey Archive Press]] {{ISBN|978-1-56478-786-6}}
* Shenton, Andrew (ed.) (2012). ''The Cambridge Companion to Arvo Pärt''. Cambridge: [[Cambridge University Press]] {{ISBN|978-0-511-84256-6}}
* Shenton, Andrew (2018). ''Arvo Pärt's Resonant Texts: Choral and Organ Music 1956–2015''. Cambridge: [[Cambridge University Press]]
* Sildre, Joonas (2024). Between Two Sounds: Arvo Pärt’s Journey to His Musical Language. Walden: Plough Publishing House.
* Dolp, Laura (ed.) (2019). ''Arvo Pärt's White Light: Media, Culture, Politics''. Cambridge: [[Cambridge University Press]]
* Bouteneff, Peter; Jeffers Engelhardt; Robert Saler (eds.) (2020). ''Arvo Pärt: Sounding the Sacred''. New York: [[Fordham University Press]]

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons category}}
* [https://www.universaledition.com/komponisten-und-werke/arvo-part-534 Arvo Pärt] biography and works on the UE website (publisher)
* [http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/articles/part/disco.php Arvo Pärt discography at Classical Net]
* [http://www.bu.edu/apcsc/ Arvo Pärt Conference at Boston University]
* [http://www.musicolog.com/part_lenten.asp Arvo Pärt] – extensive site
* ''[https://www.plough.com/en/topics/culture/music/between-two-sounds Between Two Sounds]'': Graphic novel about Arvo Pärt's life and musical journey.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070311054634/http://www.mmguide.musicmatch.com/artist/artist.cgi?ARTISTID=1086260&TMPL=LONG#bio Biography in MUSICMATCH Guide] – small biography and list of works.
* [http://www.saintpaulsunday.org/features/9810_part/index.htm ''Arvo Pärt and the New Simplicity''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031022205224/http://www.saintpaulsunday.org/features/9810_part/index.htm |date=22 October 2003 }} – article by [[Bill McGlaughlin]], with audio selections
* [https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/jan/02/1 Steve Reich about Arvo Pärt, in an interview with Richard Williams, ''The Guardian'', 2 January 2004]
* [http://www.spikemagazine.com/0600arvopart.php Spike Magazine Interview]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100614110606/http://www.claudiorecords.com/detail/triodion.html Lancing College Commission Original Claudio Records Recording in the presence of the composer – Review/Information] (archived)
* [http://www.arvopart.ee/en Arvo Pärt Centre] – most up-to-date info and more
* {{IMDb name|id=0701736}}

{{Arvo Pärt}}
{{Léonie Sonning Music Prize laureates}}
{{Herder Prize}}
{{Polar Music Prize}}
{{Minimal music}}
{{Portal bar|Classical music|Biography|Estonia|Music}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Part, Arvo}}
[[Category:Arvo Pärt| ]]
[[Category:1935 births]]
[[Category:20th-century Estonian classical composers]]
[[Category:21st-century Estonian classical composers]]
[[Category:ECM Records artists]]
[[Category:Composers for pipe organ]]
[[Category:Eastern Orthodox Christians from Estonia]]
[[Category:Estonian film score composers]]
[[Category:Male film score composers]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Minimalist composers]]
[[Category:People from Paide]]
[[Category:Postmodern composers]]
[[Category:Estonian male classical composers]]
[[Category:Postminimalist composers]]
[[Category:Benjamin Britten]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the National Coat of Arms, 1st Class]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the National Coat of Arms, 2nd Class]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany]]
[[Category:Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre alumni]]
[[Category:Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy from Lutheranism]]
[[Category:Members of the Pontifical Council for Culture]]
[[Category:Classical composers of church music]]
[[Category:Estonian expatriates in Germany]]
[[Category:Estonian expatriates in Austria]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Léonie Sonning Music Prize]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Gold Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis]]
[[Category:Herder Prize recipients]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Praemium Imperiale]]
[[Category:20th-century Estonian composers]]
[[Category:Ratzinger Prize laureates]]
[[Category:Foreign members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts]]
[[Category:Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music]]
[[Category:Choral composers]]