Pärt to Receive Highest French State Decoration
Composer Arvo Pärt will this week be decorated with the insignia of France's highest order, the Legion of Honor.
Composer Arvo Pärt will receive France's highest order, the Legion of Honor this week.
Pärt, who is in France for the month-long Estonian culture festival, will be awarded the distinction on November 2 by French Minister of Culture Frédéric Mitterrand.
"Just as it is hard to put the music created by Arvo Pärt into words, it is also hard to sum up how much honor and fame he has brought Estonia," said Estonian Culture MInister Rein Lang. "Many people in the world have learned of Estonia's existence and our culture due to Pärt's work."
The Legion of Honor was established by Napoleon in 1802.
Other Estonians who have won the order include former President Lennart Meri, President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, EC commissioner Siim Kallas, writers Jaan Kross and Jaan Kaplinski, Tallinn French Lyceum director Lauri Leesi and art historian Jüri Kuuskemaa.
The ceremony coincides with the Estonie Tonique festival. On November 2, Paul Hillier will direct the Tallinn Philharmonic Chamber Choir in a performance of Pärt's work at Oratoire du Louvre.
Kristopher Rikken