THE COMPOSER ARVO PÄRT IS AWARDED THE LÉONIE SONNING MUSIC PRIZE 2008
With music rich in spiritual overtones, Arvo Pärt is one of the most original voices of our time in the international world of music. On Thursday, 22 May 2008, Arvo Pärt will receive the Léonie Sonning Music Prize of DKK 600,000 at a concert with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra/DR and the Danish National Choir/DR directed by Tönu Kaljuste.
In addition to music by Bach, three recent works by Arvo Pärt will be performed at the prize concert: Trisagion for strings (1992/1994), L’Abbé Agathon for eight cellos and soprano (2004) and In principio for chorus and orchestra (2003).
In connection with Arvo Pärt receiving the Léonie Sonning Music Prize 2008, Paul Hillier will conduct a concert with Ars Nova and Athelas Sinfonietta. The concert will take place on 20 May at Garrison Church in Copenhagen. The programme consists exclusively of works by Pärt, i.a. Miserere (1989) and Spiegel in Spiegel (1978).
Arvo Pärt was born in Estonia in 1935 and was educated at the academy of music in Tallinn. Despite his childhood and youth in the Soviet Union, Pärt was inspired in the 1960’s by western modern music and experimented with both serialism and collage technique. After intense studies of medieval times and Renaissance music, Arvo Pärt found his own style characterised by beauty and simplicity, which may be experienced in i.a. Fratres, Summa and Tabula Rasa (all from 1977). Since then, a number of great works have followed such as Te Deum (1984) and Miserere, in which a strong religiousness originating in the Orthodox Church becomes distinct. In recent years, the classic symphony orchestra has been playing a more significant role in Arvo Pärt’s music. An example is Lamentate (2002) for piano and orchestra, which was performed by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra/DR in connection with Arvo Pärt’s latest visit to Denmark in 2005.
Tranquillity is often a part of Arvo Pärt's music. In one of his rare interviews, he has said that: “Tranquillity is always more complete than music. One just has to learn to listen for tranquillity. The world is full of tranquillity. There is so much in the air that we are not noticing at all. We do not see any angles here, but they are here. They are next to me. Generally, people do not notice. They do not want to listen to what tranquillity is.”
With the award of the Léonie Sonning Music Prize, Arvo Pärt joins the list of composers having received the prize. Igor Stravinskij was the first winner in 1959.
Subsequent winners are, interalia, Benjamin Britten, Dmitrij Sjostakovij, Olivier Messian, Per Norgard and György Kurtag.
The Leonie Sonning Music Prize is awarded every year to one of the leading musicians or composers of the world at a concert in Denmark. The prize winner of this year is the harpsichordist and conductor Lars Ulrik Mortensen, who will receive the prize at a concert at the Royal Danish Theatre on Saturday, 2 June.
The board of directors of the Leonie Sonning Music Prize, who will be awarding the prize, consists of Amalie Mailing, Lars Grunth, Esben Tange, Michael Schonwandt and Steen Frederiksen.
Steen Frederiksen,
Chairman of the Music Foundation Copenhagen, 27 February 2007
The above Press Release is used with the permission of the Music Foundation.
