Arvo Pärt's diary to be presented to public in Laulasmaa exhibition

Composer Arvo Pärt's diaries will go on show to the public as part of a new exhibition at the Arvo Pärt Center (Arvo Pärdi keskus) in Laulasmaa on July 1.
The exhibition entitled "Kui sa otsid nagu nullist peale" ("If You Are Searching from Scratch") will, for the first time, present the thoughts recorded in Pärt's diaries to a wider audience.
The exhibition will be center's first permanent exhibition and is part of a series of events dedicated to Pärt's 85th birthday.
The exhibition takes visitors on a journey into Pärt's world, where you can meet the composer's written reflections on silence, word, and sound written over the past few decades.
These are the concepts into which Pärt has delved into in his search for his sound language, which are the cornerstones of defining his creative technique - the tintinnabuli - and which have served him as food for thought to the present day.
Tintinnabuli is a compositional style created by Pärt, introduced in his "Für Alina" (1976), and used again in "Spiegel im Spiegel" (1978). This simple style was influenced by the composer's mystical experiences with chanting music.
Speaking about tintinnabuli Pärt said it is an area he sometimes wanders into when he is searching for answers – in his life, music, and work. In his dark hours, he has a certain feeling that everything outside this one thing has no meaning. The complex and many-faceted only confuses him, and he must search for unity.
"While it is generally known that Arvo Pärt does not like to talk about his music in words, saying that his 'word is sound', then through his diaries we see that inward word and intense internal speech are very important in Pärt's creative process and closely intertwined with sound," said Kristina Kõrver, one of the curators of the exhibition.
Kai Kutman, the curator of the exhibition, said: "These personal, but self-shared thoughts reach such readers for the first time on such a large scale, it has required a bit of doubt and courage from the composer."
The exhibition "Kui sa otsid nagu nullist peale" is an installation in which words and music born of silence alternate between each other.
Kutman explained, adding, that from silence, words can be seen through light and re-enter silence. "As if someone were thinking and writing these thoughts right now, it would give them time to come, think of them, and then let them go."
The curators of the exhibition are Kai Kutman, Kristina Kõrver, and Aile Tooming, artist Angelika Schneider and technical realization TM Development.
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Editor: Katriin Eikin Sein