Pärnu Music Festival to pay tribute to Arvo Pärt on 90th birthday

The 2025 Pärnu Music Festival is set to pay tribute to Arvo Pärt on the occasion of his 90th birthday. The festival will take place this July for the fifteenth time in Estonia's Summer Capital.
This year's program commences with a special Järvi Academy concert at the Arvo Pärt Center in Tallinn on July 15 before traveling south for a further ten days of concerts in Pärnu (July 16 - 25) led by Paavo Järvi and family.
Paavo Järvi will conduct the Estonian Festival Orchestra in four concerts (On July 19, 20, 24, and 25) all featuring works by Arvo Pärt, including "Silhouette," – dedicated to and premiered by Paavo and the Orchestre de Paris in 2015 at the opening concert of the Paris Philharmonie – and closing the festival with "Credo" – the work which provoked the Soviet Regime at its 1968 premiere in Tallinn, led by Neeme Järvi.
"By celebrating Arvo Pärt's 90th birthday year as part of the festival, we are giving the entire music world the opportunity to participate in this anniversary through live events in Estonia. It is a success story for us and for Pärnu that the international music world, with its ever-growing audience, turns its eyes to Pärnu for ten days every summer," said the festival's chief organizer Kristjan Hallik.
"Of course, the mission of Pärnu Music Festival is also to introduce Estonian music and musicians to the world. That is why every year we premiere new works by Estonian composers in Pärnu and introduce top international as well as Estonian soloists," Hallik said.
This year's program includes the premiere of a co-commission of Erkki-Sven Tüür's oboe concerto Desert Wind, with internationally renowned oboist Kalev Kuljus as soloist. The premiere will also include new works by two female composers from Pärnu County – Elis Hallik's "Oriri" and Alisson Kruusmaa's "Valse lente."
"The music scene is clearly visible in Pärnu during the festival, with concerts taking place every evening in the beautiful-sounding Pärnu Concert Hall. On top of that, the festival's events will also take place in other parts of the city – in St. Elizabeth's Church (Eliisabeti kirik), Villa Ammende and, for the first time in the history of our event, in The Lord's Transfiguration Orthodox Church (Pärnu Issandamuutmise kirik)," said Hallik.
The Pärnu Music Festival and Järvi Academy involve more than 300 musicians, students and teachers from around the world, and is recognized as Estonia's leading classical summer event.
More information is available here.
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Editor: Rasmus Kuningas, Michael Cole