News

Arvo Pärt was awarded the title of Inspirer of the Year, which recognizes a person or an organization that has made an outstanding contribution to the innovative development of Estonian society. The title is awarded by the Estonian IT company OIXIO and the Estonian Business School.

Composer Arvo Pärt will receive Germany’s prestigious national award, the Goethe Medal. The award is presented by the Goethe Institute in Germany, and this year’s laureates are, alongside Arvo Pärt, Italian translator Anita Raja, and Greek theater director Prodromos Tsinikoris. The Goethe Medal will be awarded by Gesche Joost, the President of the Goethe-Institut, at a ceremony in Weimar on 28 August 2026.

On April 29, Finnish artist Hans Rosenström’s site-specific sound installation Out of Silence, inspired by Arvo Pärt’s music and the architecture of the park complex designed by Louis Kahn, will open at Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms State Park on Roosevelt Island. The installation was created in collaboration with the Vox Clamantis ensemble and is dedicated to Arvo Pärt’s 90th birthday.

This year, the Arvo Pärdi Centre is awarding three scholarships for creative work within its residency programme. For the first time, one scholarship is reserved for a creative artist in Estonia’s music field and has been awarded to composer Pärt Uusberg. The other scholarship in music was awarded to Lithuanian composer Justė Janulytė, while this year’s scholarship in another creative field goes to Estonian children’s author Liis Sein. In total, 430 applications from 60 countries were submitted for the scholarships.

On 19 February, the Arvo Pärt Centre opens the exhibition Behind the Veil: Monastic Life on Mount Athos by the acclaimed Turkish photographer Ali Borovalı, offering a sensitive glimpse into the secluded life of the Orthodox monastic community in Greece. The spirituality of the monasteries of Mount Athos has also left a deep mark on Arvo Pärt’s work. The exhibition will remain open until 30 April.

The year 2026 marks 50 years since the birth of Arvo Pärt’s distinctive compositional style, tintinnabuli. The Arvo Pärt Centre will commemorate the occasion with a film screening, a listening session, a special exhibition and the publication of a collection of essays.

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.

At a ceremony held yesterday at Vabamu, Minister of Culture Heidy Purga presented the Friend of Culture 2025 awards, recognising businesses and benefactors who have contributed to the cultural sector. The Arvo Pärt Centre and its endowment extend their heartfelt thanks and congratulations to their supporters, the software company Proekspert and American composer and conductor Blake Neely, who were both honoured with the Friend of Culture award.

Arvo and Nora Pärt and the Arvo Pärt Centre mourn the passing of the versatile and brilliant musicologist, Professor Emeritus of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, and a dear friend and colleague of Arvo Pärt, Academician Jaan Ross (1957-2026).

The Arvo Pärt Centre announces an open call for three residency scholarships for creative work in Laulasmaa. Applications are open until 28 February.

Estelon, a long-standing supporter of the Arvo Pärt Centre and an Estonian manufacturer of high-quality loudspeakers, has provided the Centre with a new pair of AURA loudspeakers.

Arvo Pärt’s 90th birthday year brings to the Arvo Pärt Centre a distinguished group of performers to whom the composer is deeply grateful for their insight into, and dedication to, his music.