The Athens & Epidaurus Festival presents the Estonian Chamber Choir and the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, on Monday, June 15, at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, for an evening dedicated to the important contemporary Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, conducted by maestro Tõnu Kaljuste.

Arvo Pärt is everywhere. His works have been performed more than those of almost any other composer in the first quarter of the century. The sonic world he conceived—a crystalline, almost monastic music that bears the touch of snow and resembles silence like no other —has long since left the realm of the composer’s imagination and is now recognized as one of the most evocative musical bodies of work of the past hundred years, adored by both classical music enthusiasts and followers of pop culture.

It is inevitable that we discuss the turning point in Arvo Pärt’s career, as it serves as a model of artistic rebirth, inner exploration, and musical reinvention. In the mid-twentieth century, feeling trapped between the dominant yet rigid currents of the avant-garde—such as serialism, aleatoric music, collage, and neoclassicism—Pärt withdrew from composition and chose silence, seeking another musical language of ascetic substance and transparent truth. He devoted himself to an intensive study of Gregorian chant and Orthodox melody, as well as early Renaissance polyphony. In 1972, he joined the Orthodox Church, with his faith guiding his mission ever since: the promotion of a religious-spiritual beauty that seeks expression through the aesthetic realm. The personal compositional system he developed, titled tintinnabuli, helped him tap into this scattered music of the higher spheres, through a lucid technique that harnesses the power of the minimal musical trace—the austere sound of a single note reverberating—to the superlative degree.

In a celebration of the Estonian composer’s life and work, the evening at the Odeon features iconic works from his vocal repertoire, including both solo and choral pieces. The demanding task of performing these works falls to the Estonian Chamber Philharmonic Choir and the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, conducted by maestro Tõnu Kaljuste —longtime collaborators of Pärt who have played a decisive role in the dissemination and interpretive understanding of his musical universe. Their presence on the Herodion stage promises an evening of genuine emotion, a heartfelt expression of gratitude toward a great master who summed up the power of music with the following words: “If one can kill with a sound, one can also heal with a sound.”

Conductor Tõnu Kaljuste • Soloist Maria Listra

Sponsor Piraeus Bank

Schedule

Arvo Pärt (b. 1935)

Für Lennart in memoriam (2006)

L’abbé Agathon (2004, arr. 2008)

Soprano Maria Listra

Stabat Mater (1985, arr. 2008)

Soprano Maria Listra

Countertenor Danila Frantou

Tenor Toomas Tohert

Magnificat (1989)

Soprano TBA

Te Deum (1985, rev. 2007)

Soprano TBA

Tenor TBA