December 14, 2001Apparently Manuel Barrueco has worked with Arvo Pärt on a new version of Fratres for guitar and strings. It was premiered sometime this year with the Galicia Symphony in Spain. The short announcement appears on barrueco.com. No other information is known.
Also from Universal Edition...
Arvo Pärt Festival in Nordrhein-Westfalen: 55 concerts A festival of extraordinary dimensions dedicated to Arvo Pärt will be taking place in Nordrhein-Westfalen: 20 cities will host 55 concerts between September 2001 and June 2002. The performances will present a broad cross-section of all of Pärt's compositional phases, juxtaposing his works with those of other composers in musical, spiritual or thematic contexts. The performers include the Hilliard Ensemble, the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir under Paul Hillier, and countless renowned artists from Germany. The festival will be organized by the Kultursekretariat NRW Gütersloh, a cultural organization uniting cities and municipalities throughout Nordrhein-Westfalen. A detailed program can be found on the web at: www.arvo-paert-in-nrw.de
December 08, 2001From the Universal Edition news letter...
Arvo Pärt - language dictates the music
Pärt's vocal works cannot be translated into other languages. The characteristics of the chosen language (separation and stressing of syllables) overwhelmingly define the compositional result. Pärt proves this himself by way of a current "experiment.": the Latin version of his English-language work The Beatitudes has given rise to a new, independent composition Beatudines.
August 02, 2001The live transmission of Nunc Dimittis will be at 1500 GMT on August 15th. (This is 1600 local time in the UK). It can be heard on BBC On-Line at www.bbc.co.uk/radio3. Full details at http://www.cathedral.net/uk/scotland/edinburgh/ep/
July 31, 2001The article "Arvo Pärt Rezeption und Wirkung seiner Musik - Vorträge des Wuppertaler Symposiums 1999, ed.Oliver Kautny (as mentioned March 20, 2001) is available online at http://www.epos.uni-osnabrueck.de/k/kauo001/Start.htm in either HTML or PDF formats (no charge).
July 19, 2001Following a commission by the choir of St. Mary's Cathedral, one of the largest church choirs in Scotland, Arvo Pärt has set Nunc Dimittis (taken from Luke 2:29-35 and also known as Simeon's Song of Praise) for choir a cappella. The première will take place as part of the Edinburgh Festival on 15 Aug 2001 in St. Mary's Cathedral, conducted by Matthew Owens. The Choral Evensong will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.
July 10, 2001A recent online article/interview from Spike Magazine can be found here.
April 11, 2001Some news related to the Littlemore Tractus...
You can find the text of the original sermon, "Wisdom and Innocence", that the Tractus is based on at: http://www.newmanreader.org/works/subjects/sermon20.htmlAt the same site you can read Newman's "Apologia pro vita sua" which includes the battle of words betwen Newman and Charles Kingsley that the sermon instigated.
April 10, 2001An unspecified documentary on Pärt will be shown in the UK and Eire next Thursday, 19 April, on the "Artsworld" channel (a digital satellite subscription channel) at 2000.
Details can be seen at http://www.artsworld.com/tv/Next%20week%27s%20schedule%20-%20Evening.html
April 02, 2001ARTE-TV will be showing the documentary Arvo Pärt - Te Deum on April 8. You can get more information from www.arte-tv.com although the site is in German or French only.
March 29, 2001From Universal Edition... The work for string orchestra first performed in September 2000 in Berlin, Orient & Occident has now been released by Arvo Pärt for performance. Mein Weg hat Gipfel und Wellentäler was written in 1989 as a piece for organ and has now been revised by Pärt in a version for 14 strings. Intensive co-operation with the conductor Tõnu Kaljuste has also resulted in two new interesting versions for choir: Wallfahrslied, originally composed for baritone (or tenor) and string quartet, has now been arranged for male choir and string orchestra (territorial premiere on 7 Apr. in Tallinn with the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and the EPCC). Como anhela la cierva, originally for soprano and orchestra, 1999, has been arranged for female chorus and orchestra, and will be recorded in May by Kaljuste with the choir and orchestra of the Swedish Radio as a CD. The version of the work with a soloist will have its NL premiere on 12 May in Utrecht under Eri Klas, with Patricia Rozario as soloist.
March 20, 2001In a few weeks there will be released the report about the Pärt-Symposium at the Univ. Wuppertal in April 1999.
Oliver Kautny (Ed.): Arvo Pärt. Rezeption und Wirkung seiner Musik. Vorträge des Wuppertaler Symposiums 1999, epOS Music, Osnabrück 2001, ca. 74 Seiten.
ISBN 3-923486-31-6
For more information contact Oliver Kautny
February 19, 2001A 2nd performance of the Littlemore Tractus is scheduled at the Oriel College Chapel in Oxford on Sunday, February 25, 2001 where the Choir of Oriel College Chapel will be the performers. See the bottom of the page at: http://users.ox.ac.uk/~orie0849/preacher.htm And the music list for Sunday 25th February at: http://users.ox.ac.uk/~orie0849/music.htm
There is an article/interview on the subject of Christopher Bowers-Broadbent's own compositions in the current January/February 2001 issue of Choir & Organ magazine. The article contains two short Pärt references. A select catalogue of Christopher Bowers-Broadbent's works and discography is also provided. You can view the current issue cover at: http://www.choirandorgan.com/chocur00.htm. Note that the url for the current issue will be outdated once the March/April 2001 magazine is available.
February 01, 2001A new and interesting interview with the composer can be found here.