Composer Arvo Pärt's 'O Holy Father Nicholas' to premiere at the Met
On October 31 and November 1, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, also known as the Met, will host the premiere of "O Holy Father Nicholas", a piece from Estonian composer Arvo Pärt.
Masterpieces from the composer's seven-decade career are performed by the Artefact Ensemble, under the direction of Grammy-nominated choral conductor Benedict Sheehan, the Met wrote on their website.
The premiere was commissioned by Nektarios S. Antoniou for The Schola Cantorum to celebrate the rededication of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and the National Shrine at Ground Zero.
The St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church was completely destroyed when the South Tower of the original World Trade Center collapsed after being struck by an airplane on September 11, 2001, but a church is set to open again this year.
Pärt's piece is based on a prayer text from Orthodox liturgy, taken from the troparion of the feast day of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker. The composer has used the same text before – in the third part of his choral work "Triodion" and in Russian in "Alleluia-Tropus", a work written for vocal ensemble.
See more about the performances here.
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Editor: Kristjan Kallaste
