Today, September 11th, is the 79th birthday of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, the most performed contemporary composer in the world for three years in a row according to Bachtrack. His composition Adam’s Lament won a Grammy this year for Best Choral Performance with Tõnu Kaljuste conducting the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, the Sinfonietta Riga, the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, the Latvian Radio Choir and the Vox Clamantis ensemble. His composition style has changed over the years, but he is most known his tintinnabuli compositions- a technique in which two monadic lines of structure, melody and triad, are united into one ensemble. Silence also becomes just as an important part of Pärt’s work.

In an interview with NPR, he (through interpreter) referred to the silences in his music as

"intervals," which he said "take up a life of their own when the whole piece is being played in a cathedral. In my music, there is no difference concerning the importance between the musical parts and the parts with the silences. I would even go as far as to say that the silences become a very special life and a very special importance of their own.

The score is written in a way that makes it necessary to have the silences for the overtones to create a new layer that vibrates during the silence parts."

From May-June, Pärt was in the US where numerous concerts of his work were held in New York, Washington DC and Boston including at the Kennedy Center, Metropolitan Museum of Art and Carnegie Hall. In Tallinn, as part of the Nargen Festival, concerts of Pärts works were held in various Tallinn churches from September 2nd to 11th. I was able to get a ticket to today’s concert at Jaani Kirik, where the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and Tõnu Kaljuste performed „Lamentate“ with Marrit Gerretz-Traksmann soloist on piano and „Como cierva sedienta“ with soloist soprano Patricia Rozario.

The performance received a standing ovations—and rightfully so. The mystical pieces and concert were only enriched by the interior of the church and the fog outside as the concert ended.